Intuitive Machines Successfully Completes Launch Vibration Tests in Preparation for Lunar Mission
Intuitive Machines, Inc. (Nasdaq: LUNR, LUNRW) (“Intuitive Machines” or the “Company”), a leading space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, today announced that its lunar lander, Nova-C has completed all structural testing, paving the way for the Company’s first mission to the Moon later this year.
The series of modal tests, conducted by Intuitive Machines engineers, subjected the Company’s Nova-C lunar lander to low-level vibration to excite the completed lander. Results from these tests correlate the detailed finite element model of Nova-C with flight structure, ultimately allowing engineers to calculate flight environments of the lander, electronics, and customer payloads that will be exposed to during the launch. The modal tests, in conjunction with previous vibration and static load tests, provide the complete structural certification of the flight lander.
“Completing modal testing and structural certification in advance of our first mission to the Moon is a significant milestone ahead of launching later this year,” said Steve Altemus, Chief Executive Officer of Intuitive Machines. “Returning the United States to the Moon is a historic mission, and completing this test ensures the payloads and spacecraft subsystems can withstand the vibrations of launch.”
Intuitive Machines is a leading participant in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, having been awarded contracts for three missions, to date, more than any other contractor.