Rocket Lab headed for the Moon from Mahia, Hawke's Bay

The Capstone satellite is on a mission that will help make future space exploration and travel safer. Photo / Supplied

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.

After a three-to-four-month trip to the Moon, the Capstone CubeSat will enter a near rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO), which is a highly elliptical orbit over the Moon's poles.

During its six-month primary mission in orbit around the Moon, Capstone will validate the propulsion requirements for maintaining this type of orbit as predicted by models.

This will reduce logistical uncertainties for future missions.

Capstone will be Rocket Lab's first launch to the Moon. Photo / Supplied

It will also test the accuracy of innovative spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation solutions as well as demonstrate capabilities for commercial support of future lunar missions.

"Flexible isn't a word usually used to describe lunar missions but operating two launch complexes gives us the freedom to select a site that best meets mission requirements and schedule," Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck said.

"Our team is immensely proud to be launching one of the first pathfinding missions to support Nasa's goal of delivering a sustainable and robust presence on the Moon.

"We've teamed up with the Nasa Launch Services Programme on previous Electron missions to low Earth orbit, so it's exciting to be working with them again to go just a bit further than usual ... some 380,000km further."