Friday, March 17, 2023

The Nova-C Lander Moves One Step Closer Towards Its Moon-bound Flight a Few Months from Now...

Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander successfully completed launch vibration tests in preparation for its flight to the Moon...scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as early as this June.
Intuitive Machines

Intuitive Machines Successfully Completes Launch Vibration Tests in Preparation for Lunar Mission (Press Release - March 16)

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 the flight structure, ultimately allowing engineers to calculate flight environments of the lander, electronics and customer payloads that will be exposed to strong vibrations 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.

Source: Intuitive Machines

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