A robotic lunar lander built for a commercial moon mission has cleared a demanding set of ground tests, bringing it closer to its planned launch later this year. Voyager Technologies' Griffin Mission One, also known as Griffin-1, completed the trials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
The testing was designed to reproduce the harsh conditions the spacecraft will face on its journey to the lunar surface. Engineers exposed the lander to extreme temperatures, intense vibration and even the loud acoustic environment it will encounter between launch and landing.
JPL announced recently that the lander passed the full series of environmental tests. An image taken on Aug. 31 shows the spacecraft inside JPL's 25-foot-wide (7.6-meter) space simulator.
Charles Whetsel, manager of the Exploration Systems Development Office at JPL, said in a statement that the laboratory's Environmental Test Laboratory has been putting robotic explorers through their paces since the Ranger program. That effort delivered NASA's first close-up views of the moon's surface in the mid-1960s. "We're proud to provide our expertise and facilities to support this new phase of commercial lunar exploration," he said.
Griffin-1 is slated to fly as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The lander will carry more than 1,100 pounds (455 kilograms) of cargo to a landing site near the lunar south pole.
That payload includes science experiments and new technologies that will be tried out on the moon's surface. Among them is Astrolab's FLIP rover, which is set to explore the terrain while carrying a history-making supercomputer onboard.
The mission is also expected to contribute to longer-term goals. According to the source, the work done by Griffin-1 will help lay the groundwork for a future crewed moon base, which NASA aims to build near the lunar south pole over the next five years or so.
