We Just Saw The Space Launch System (SLS)! 🚀🛰️✨
- MSI DFAT
- May 8
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
But first, a pop quiz💡
What building has the largest doors on the planet ❔ 🧑🚀🌝
We Had a Blast at KSC 🔊 (Literally)
Last week, the team at MSI DFAT had the honor of presenting at the Artemis Orion Crew & Service Module (CSM) handover at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in sunny Florida, just a stone’s throw from Cape Canaveral. The energy was sky-high (pun intended), and we were proud to be surrounded by an incredible community of Artemis program suppliers.
More trivia (...I must be feeling extra generous today): Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology—hence the name of the newest program bringing us back to the Moon. 😉
We're all-in on supporting NASA and the U.S. mission to return humans to the lunar surface. It's been a while... and we're ready!
Lockheed Martin is aiming high with plans for an annual launch cadence of the SLS and Orion CSM through 2030. At MSI DFAT, we’re helping make that a reality. Our acoustic testing solutions drastically cut downtime—just a few days for full Crew & Service Module testing, with no spacecraft relocation required.
We’re proud to stand with Lockheed Martin and NASA (also, pun intended) to help deliver Rapid Program Delivery—because space doesn’t wait!
MSI DFAT standing with our fellow Artemis program suppliers!
By the way... Check out the enormous size of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at NASA Kennedy Space Center! 👇👇👇
Special thank you to NASA and Lockheed Martin for the hospitality!
MSI DFAT Hits the Stage at NOVEM 2025 🎤🇩🇪
Our very own Alex Carrella chaired a technical session and presented fresh research at NOVEM 2025 (Noise and Vibration Emerging Methods), held May 6–8 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Dr. Alex Carrella chairing a panel session at NOVEM 2025.
This global conference only happens every three years and brings together leaders tackling the cutting edge of:
Structural Vibration
Vibro-Acoustics
Flow-Induced Noise & Vibration
Noise and Vibration Control
This year’s agenda delivered some serious brain fuel, with keynotes covering:
Psychoacoustic Noise Control of Electric Drives
Physics-Guided Machine Learning in Vibroacoustics
Vibroacoustics of Space Vehicles 👈 (yep—that’s us!)
Always proud to represent MSI DFAT on the international stage—and even prouder to help shape the future of spacecraft testing!
We're always evolving - from rockstars to rockets!
T-Minus 21 Days to SCLV 🚀
Papers, publications, and PowerPoints... oh my!
We’re gearing up for the Spacecraft and Launch Vehicle Dynamic Environments Workshop (SCLV), happening June 3–5 in sunny Los Angeles—and MSI DFAT is showing up big. Dr. Alex Carrella, Wes Mayne, and Alan Merrick will present two cutting-edge research papers in collaboration with our friends at ESI VA One, Rabah Hadjit and Alexis Castel.
Here’s a sneak peek:
📝 MIMO Control for DFAT Testing Equivalence to Reverberant Field Testing
👤 R. Hadjit, W. Mayne III, A. Carrella, A. Castel
Get into the weeds with how DFAT compares to traditional reverberant field testing, using simulation and panel response data to validate field accuracy and guide future modeling strategies.
📝 Acoustic Testing on this Shakey Earth
👤 A. Merrick
With over 220 DFAT tests across seismic zones, we’ve learned how to keep towering speaker stacks safe and stable—even in earthquake-prone environments. This session breaks down the structural engineering behind it.
Join us in L.A. as we share our latest work and push the boundaries of spacecraft acoustic testing.
A: The VAB stands 525 feet tall, 716 feet long, and 518 feet wide. It encloses 129 million cubic feet of space—big enough to fit a Saturn V rocket vertically. The building is so massive, clouds can form near the ceiling on humid days. To prevent this, it’s equipped with one of the world’s largest air conditioning systems. The VAB was originally constructed for assembling Saturn V rockets in the 1960s, and later used for Space Shuttle stacking. It is now being modified to support the Artemis missions with the Space Launch System (SLS).
Launching things into space? 🚀🛰️✨
