The commercial Griffin-1 lander, which will become part of NASA's program to build a lunar base, has successfully passed a series of critical tests at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. The tests simulated the vacuum and temperature swings of space, as well as the shaking and deafening roar during a rocket launch.
Griffin-1 was built by Voyager Technologies under NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. Launch is expected later this year on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The vehicle will deliver more than 455 kilograms of cargo to Nobile Crater near the Moon's south pole. Griffin-1 carries 10 science and technology demonstrations from six countries, including the largest commercial cargo in lunar history - the FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) rover from Astrolab.
Testing began in July after the 1,265-kilogram vehicle was transported from Pittsburgh to JPL. First, engineers spun it on a special table to measure its mass and mass distribution - this helps understand how the module will behave in flight and during landing. Then, in an anechoic chamber (a room whose walls are covered with wave-absorbing spikes), they checked whether the electronic components interfere with each other.
During vibration tests, hundreds of sensors monitored Griffin-1's condition while a "shake table" shook it in three directions with increasing force - this simulates the ride to orbit. To reproduce the roar of launch, giant horns powered by compressed nitrogen blasted the vehicle with sound up to 153 decibels in a sealed acoustic chamber.
The culmination was a check in the 25-foot thermal vacuum chamber - the Space Simulator, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Over about two weeks, Griffin-1 was alternately heated to 75 °C and cooled to minus 100 °C. This simulates the conditions that await the vehicle in space and on the lunar surface.
"Griffin-1 is being built for a historic goal - to deliver infrastructure and capabilities to the Moon. Completing these demanding environmental tests is an important milestone showing that the vehicle is ready for launch and flight to the Moon's south pole," said John Thornton, executive vice president of Voyager.
After the tests, Griffin-1 returned to the Voyager Lunar Systems facility for final assembly. The next stage is pre-launch operations, after which the vehicle will be sent to Cape Canaveral.
It is worth noting: successful ground tests confirm readiness for launch, but do not guarantee a trouble-free mission. Final conclusions can only be drawn after the flight.