The Acoustic Research Systems (ARS) NEUTRON system will put NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) through a series of extremely high-power acoustic tests at NASA’s Johnson Space Center prior to its trip to the Moon’s South Pole.
The NEUTRON System will create a fully incoherent, highly uniform sound field with extremely high sound pressure levels that will generate the harsh vibrations that will be experienced by the rover during launch.
NASA’s golf cart-sized mobile robot will be delivered to the region near the Nobile Crater, where it will begin a ~100-day mission in search of ice and other potential resources that can be harvested on future Artemis missions.
VIPER will be delivered to the Moon by Astrobotic’s Griffin lander aboard the SpaceX Falcon Heavy as a part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Service (CLPS) Initiative. Astrobotic is a fellow member of the Keystone Space Collaborative, a nonprofit organization with a mission to support and serve the Tri-State Region’s (PA, WV, OH) growing space industry.
“ARS is proud to work with NASA during the acoustic testing portion of this mission, not only for what this mission means for the future of space exploration but also to work in the historic facility, building 31, where the Apollo missions were tested. This is where it all began.” — Jeremiah Leiter, CEO & Co-Founder, Acoustic Research Systems
