Rocket Lab will launch its first mission to the Moon from Mahia later this year.
Capstone (the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) aids Nasa's Artemis programme and will be Rocket Lab's first launch to the Moon.
Capstone is a 25kg satellite created by Advanced Space that will be the first spacecraft to test a unique, elliptical lunar orbit.
The satellite will help reduce risk for future spacecraft by validating innovative navigation technologies and verifying the dynamics of this halo-shaped orbit.
The mission is the first time Rocket Lab will use its Photon spacecraft platform as a trans-lunar injection stage to place a satellite on a trajectory that will take it beyond Earth orbit to the Moon.