Testing Services

Test with Masten

Our reusable vehicles and engine stands provide government, defense, and commercial customers with a rocket-powered test environment – all to retire risk and advance technology readiness for space. Masten’s test operations are conducted at the Mojave Air & Space Port, 90 minutes north of Los Angeles and just a short drive from our facilities. This proximity allows us to test frequently with minimal lead-time. We’ve flown our vertical takeoff and vertical landing vehicles up to six times in a single day.

Entry, Descent, and Landing Tests

Masten has tested and iterated entry, descent, and landing technologies aboard our rocket-powered vehicles for dozens of customers. We’ve tested precision landing avionics, terrain relative navigation, hazard avoidance, guidance algorithms, and everything in between. Our flight tests can dramatically improve landing accuracy and bring the solar system’s most scientifically interesting areas, risky terrain, and even human bases, within reach.

“Our flight on the Masten Xodiac rocket gave our young startup a kickstart. Working with Masten and their Xodiac rocket allowed us to obtain measurements from our instrument critical for anchoring our performance models. Overall the Masten flight was a big success for Psionic, and we look forward to further test flights on Xodiac.”

– Steve Sandford, Founder & CTO, Psionic

Suborbital Payload Testing

Masten also has an unparalleled history of testing and maturing next-generation space technologies aboard our reusable vehicles. From sample collection vacuums to deployable cameras, we’ve tested a wide range of payloads to reduce risk and provide truth data to technology developers. Many of the payloads flown on our vehicles are now being deployed on the Moon, Mars, and beyond!

“[This testing] helped in a realistic environment on an actual lander doing vertical takeoff and vertical landing, which is what we’ll see for our Martian Moons eXploration mission.”

– Kris Zacny, VP of Exploration Technology at Honeybee Robotics

Plume Surface Interaction Testing

Masten has been conducting plume surface interaction research since 2011, studying the effects of rocket engine plumes on the surface as landers touch down. We use our vehicles and test stands with various sized rocket engines to evaluate plume effects on lunar regolith simulants for NASA and commercial customers. This research allows us to mitigate cratering and debris that can impact spacecraft and the environment on multiple levels.

“The tests went smoothly with four successful flights. We could measure how much dust is in the clouds… and we are now doing the post-test data processing on the videos to extract information about the dust and dynamics, proving the quality of data that can be collected during a lunar landing.”

– Phil Metzger, Researcher at University of Central Florida

Static Engine Testing

We also offer test stands for static engine testing and characterization. Masten currently operates multiple engine stands that are available for testing, including two 7,000 lbf rated stands (one for LOX and IPA/Methane and one for green hypergolic bi-propellant testing) as well as a 25,000 lbf rated LOX/Methane stand.

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