NASA loses radio contact with CAPSTONE lunar probe

https://newatlas.com/space/nasa-radio-contact-capstone-lunar-probe-lost/

In a development that's thrown a spanner in the works of its US$37.2-million Artemis program, NASA has lost radio contact with its Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat space probe.

According to NASA, the loss of communications occurred on July 4, 2022, while CAPSTONE was in contact with the space agency's Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking and communication system designed to support deep space missions. The blackout came after the spacecraft separated from its Rocket Lab Photon upper stage booster, which had completed seven engine burns over six days, sending the robotic probe out of low-Earth orbit and on a four-month ballistic trajectory to cislunar space.

The NRHO does not center on any celestial body, but on a point in space where the gravitational forces of the Moon and Earth balance one another out. So far it has only been evaluated in computer simulations, but if tests prove its stability, it will allow Gateway to act as a staging outpost for missions to the Moon and Mars.