The Acoustic Testing of Spacecraft with Alex Carrella, Max Myers and Bradley Hope of MS-DFAT

Getting into space is loud. There’s no way around it, the controlled explosion that propels a spacecraft into orbit generates a LOT of noise. Anyone who has ever watched a launch in person knows how true that is.

"We're essentially recreating the very harsh noise and vibration environment created by sound during rocket launch." Bradley Hope, MSI-DFAT

But sound can have a very detrimental effect on the spacecraft riding on the rocket. Sound is nothing more than a vibration, after all, and shaking things often leads to breaking things. That’s why acoustic testing is such an important part of evaluating a spacecraft's fitness for flight.

On this edition of The Ex Terra Podcast, Tom Patton talks with Alessandra 'Alex' Carrella, Max Myers and Bradley Hope from MSI-DFAT about DFAN testing for spacecraft which was developed by the company.

The MSI-DFAT test method uses a large number of speakers that surround the test article to create the acoustic test field. The speakers are controlled in zones and provide more flexibility than in a traditional reverberant test chamber. DFAN testing is most often controlled to simulate a diffuse field (as in a reverberant chamber), but it is also possible to target fields with other characteristics. This requires tight control of the microphones for good uniformity of the sound field and low coherence between them to avoid creating standing waves.

"We're essentially recreating the very harsh noise and vibration environment created by sound during rocket launch," said Bradley Hope, U.S. Business Development Manager for MI-DFAT. "That's a very violent environment, and it's part of an overall series of tests that they call 'environmental tests' that a spacecraft will go through prior to launch."

MSI-DFAT owns more than 17 patents on its proprietary technology. The company's technology, utilizing true narrowband MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) control, closely matches a reverberant chamber, providing the most realistic testing environment.