Momentus Space, Inc. has completed vibration testing of the firm’s Vigoride Orbital Service Vehicle that is scheduled to launch on the SpaceX Transporter-6 mission in December of 2022.
The vibration testing conducted at Experior Laboratories exposed the Vigoride spacecraft to the forces and environmental factors it may experience during launch.
The December flight will mark Momentus’ second demonstration mission. The vehicle will carry payloads for customers Caltech and Qosmosys. In addition to deploying customer payloads, Momentus will aim to comprehensively test Vigoride in space, including its water-based, propellant propulsion system.
Momentus’ plans for additional launches of the Vigoride vehicle remain as stated in the Q1 earnings call on May 10, 2022, with agreements signed with SpaceX for launches on every upcoming Transporter mission through 2023.
“Vibration testing is a significant milestone in the ground test campaigns we do in preparation for our missions,” said Momentus Chief Executive Officer, John Rood. “This particular vehicle that completed vibration testing is the latest block of our Orbital Service Vehicle and features increased payload capacity and improved payload environments, as well as some other upgrades to implement what we learned from our first demonstration mission.”
Additionally, the company provided the fifth Mission Update on their inaugural Vigoride mission that launched on May 25, 2022.
Since the company’s last update on August 3, Momentus has successfully deployed an additional payload from its Vigoride orbital transfer vehicle. SelfieSat, a two-unit cubesat developed by Norwegian student space organization Orbit NTNU, was deployed at the end of August. The satellite will be taking a selfie using an external screen and displaying pictures sent by the public, while a camera mounted on the SelfieSat arm photographs the screen with the Earth in the background. View a video of the SelfieSat team making contact with their payload at this direct link…
Momentus initially deployed two FOSSA satellites from its Vigoride orbital transfer vehicle on May 28 and the deployment of four additional FOSSA satellites occurred in July.
The company also deployed one satellite from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona on May 25 from a third-party deployer that flew on a second port of the launch vehicle.
A total of eight Momentus customer satellites have now been deployed in LEO and two yet-to-be-deployed FOSSA satellites remain on Vigoride. The company will continue efforts to deploy the remaining payloads. Read all updates from Momentus’ first demonstration mission at this direct infolink….
Momentus’ plans for additional launches of the Vigoride vehicle remain as stated in the Q1 earnings call on May 10, 2022, with agreements signed with SpaceX for launches on every upcoming Transporter mission through 2023.
“The Momentus team continues its work to deliver for our customers and learn everything we can from our first demonstration mission,” said Momentus Chief Executive Officer, John Rood. “We’re thrilled that the Orbit NTNU students can conduct their SelfieSat mission and that FOSSA can continue to expand its IoT constellation. We’re applying the important lessons learned from this mission as we look toward our next demonstration flight targeted for December 2022.”
Momentus is a U.S. commercial space company that plans to offer in-space infrastructure services, including in-space transportation, hosted payloads and in-orbit services. Momentus believes it can make new ways of operating in space possible with its planned in-space transfer and service vehicles that will be powered by an innovative water plasma-based propulsion system that is under development.
