Operating the Earth–Moon Highway: From CAPSTONE to Sustainable Cislunar Mobility
The space between Earth and the Moon is becoming an operational domain, but sustainable activity will require more than individual missions. Building on CAPSTONE’s demonstration of navigation and operations in lunar orbit, this panel examines the infrastructure needed to make cislunar movement routine and commercially viable. Leaders from government, industry, defense, and research will explore autonomous navigation, communications, space domain awareness, transportation, refueling, and mission operations. The conversation will address how public investments and commercial services can evolve into an interoperable network rather than a collection of disconnected systems. Panelists will consider who should develop, own, operate, and pay for cislunar capabilities; how civil, commercial, and national security requirements can coexist; and which standards and acquisition models could accelerate deployment. Attendees will gain a practical view of the decisions required to transform the Earth–Moon corridor from an experimental frontier into dependable infrastructure supporting exploration, science, security, and a lunar economy.
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