Rocket Lab launched the CAPSTONE mission for NASA this morning. The launch was successful, and the spacecraft is headed toward the Moon. We’ll have a full report on it tomorrow.

Speaking of the Moon, a few months ago, the space community caught the attention of a rocket stage heading towards the moon to impact. It was first thought to be from the Falcon 9 that launched DSCOVR, but then the person who made the initial prediction realized that was impossible, and it was actually from a Long March 3C that launched Chang’e-5 T1.

At the time, we said NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter would eventually spot it and take pictures of the crater. That has now happened, and the results are fascinating. Instead of one crater, it’s two very close together. This could identify which stage produced it, as most rocket stages have their masses at one end or the other. The crater is located in the larger crater Hertsprung, named after the Danish astronomer. Hertsprung crater is on the lunar far side.

Also, on June 27 at 15:46 UTC, a Chinese Long March 4C launched the Gaofen 12-03 satellite into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Gaofen 12-03 is a microwave radar remote sensing satellite that will be used by the Chinese government for high-resolution Earth observation. The press release didn’t mention specific uses for this capability, only saying the same things they say for nearly every satellite — urban planning, crop yield estimation, disaster prevention, and mitigation.

More Information

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Spots Rocket Impact Site on Moon (NASA)

CASC press release (Chinese)