NASA and Gravitics Sign Space Act Agreement with Focus on Verification and Validation for Large Spacecraft

Today, Gravitics announced a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA to provide engineering consultation for developing verification and validation approaches for large orbital spacecraft.

Vehicle-level qualification testing, including thermal, vacuum, vibration, and acoustic testing, is a necessary element in preparing spacecraft for challenging launch and space environments, particularly for long duration missions. Today’s qualification methodologies are focused on 4-meter class payloads and smaller, but new vehicles are expanding the possibilities of what can be launched to space. ULA’s Vulcan, Blue Origin’s New Glenn, and SpaceX’s Starship are among the next generation launch vehicles that can support wider diameters, up from 4-meter to as large as 8-meter class payloads. The space industry faces a formidable challenge of certifying large-diameter structures that can fly on these launch vehicles.

Gravitics offers a range of space infrastructure products, including structures as small as 3 meters and commercial space station modules as large as nearly 8 meters in diameter. The larger Gravitics space station module products (6-meter class, and 8-meter class) face the qualification challenges highlighted above. Responding to this need, NASA and Gravitics have signed a Space Act Agreement (SAA) to develop verification and validation by similarity approaches for 6 to 8-meter diameter structures.

“It is time to build bigger,” said Colin Doughan, CEO of Gravitics. “I am optimistic that the qualification and validation solutions being pioneered by Gravitics will be used across the industry from 6 to 8-meter diameter payloads and beyond.”

About Gravitics:

Founded in 2021, Gravitics, Inc. is an aerospace company that designs and manufactures large space structures, including pressurized space station modules–the building blocks for scalable space platforms. Gravitics is enabling a new era in human and robotic utilization of low earth orbit and beyond. Visit gravitics.com to learn more.

Media inquiries: mediacontact@gravitics.com