Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will support the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment 02 (CAPSTONE 02), led by Advanced Space's mission integration team. Building on the Laboratory's optics expertise, the tri-optical imaging payload will enable advanced imaging for the mission's rendezvous and proximity operations.
The optical module is designed to image a target spacecraft over distances ranging from tens of kilometers down to hundreds of meters to support relative navigation. In addition to imaging the target spacecraft, the payload will also navigate by imaging the moon, the lunar limb, the Earth, star fields and distant solar system objects, including planets and asteroids.
"It is incredibly exciting for LLNL to serve as a payload provider for CAPSTONE 02," said Cohl Hatala, LLNL's lead for the mission. "The mission is a critical steppingstone for Artemis IV, which is planned to be the first human landing on the moon since Apollo."
The NASA-funded mission will use two identical spacecraft, launched on the same vehicle, which will be delivered to the moon's near rectilinear halo orbit. Ahead of future cislunar crewed demonstrations, CAPSTONE 02 aims to characterize the cislunar space environment using onboard sensors and to conduct rendezvous and proximity operations.
Additional NASA instruments onboard will collect data on the thermal and radiation environment, including thermal performance and space weather phenomena such as electron and proton flux, to inform future long-duration cislunar human spaceflight.
Scientists and engineers at LLNL are developing the tri-optical imaging payload to support CAPSTONE 02's navigation and mission imaging during lunar operations. The system incorporates three telescopes: two heritage Lab-developed monolithic optics, V1 and V7, and a wide field-of-view Topaz lens. V1 provides a wide field of view for broader scene awareness, while V7 offers a narrower field of view with higher resolution for more detailed imaging. The Topaz lens adds additional wide field coverage, giving the payload a complementary mix of broad context and fine detail.
Combined with an additional commercial Topaz wide field lens procured by Advanced Space, the Laboratory's Payload Electronics Module supports sub-simultaneous imaging between the two wide field sensors as part of the mission concept of operations. Integrating and operating this additional lens represents a new capability for LLNL and reflects the close collaboration between the Lab and Advanced Space.
"The LLNL tri-optic payload offers a unique combination of capabilities that make it especially well-suited for this mission," Hatala said. "By combining wide- and narrow-field-of-view telescopes with different resolutions, the system will provide telemetry to support the mission's concept of operations."
Participation in CAPSTONE 02 represents an opportunity for the Laboratory to apply advanced imaging and sensing capabilities to a real mission in cislunar space, contributing technologies and data that may help inform future lunar exploration.
