NASA has a series of robotic missions in support of Artemis. On 28 June, a Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle carried the cislunar autonomous positioning system technology operations and navigation experiment (CAPSTONE) mission spacecraft into orbit. The goal of CAPSTONE is to test the elliptical orbit that the Gateway lunar station will be in above the Moon. The 25 kg CAPSTONE spacecraft will have taken four months to reach the Moon and then it will spend six months testing its ability to keep a stable position in this orbit. While CAPSTONE is on its way to the Moon, there are two more Artemis supporting missions being planned to launch in 2022, TO2-IM and TO2-AB. Moon logistics company Astrobotics' Peregrine Lunar Lander will deliver scientific payloads to the Moon for the TO2-AB mission, also known as Peregrine Mission 1. The Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander will also deliver scientific payloads to the Moon, specifically the Vallis Schroteri region for TO2-IM. Both companies were selected under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Astrobotic has another CLPS contract for its Griffin lander. This lander will deliver the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon's South Pole for Artemis. Launched in 2023 by SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy rocket, VIPER will seek water ice. Two further CLPS missions will be undertaken in 2023, TO 19C and the polar resources ice mining experiment (PRIME)-1. Masten Space Systems' Xelene lander will carry eight scientific payloads for TO 19C, while PRIME-1 is being provided by Intuitive Machines. It will demonstrate in-situ resource utilization on the Moon for the first time.
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