{"id":385984,"date":"2026-04-07T07:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385984\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T07:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T07:54:12","slug":"the-exploration-company-completes-nyx-test-model-pressure-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/385984\/","title":{"rendered":"The Exploration Company Completes Nyx Test Model Pressure Tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-Exploration-Company-Completes-Nyx-Test-Model-Pressure-Tests.webp.webp\" alt=\"The Exploration Company has completed an initial test campaign of its Nyx Structural Test Model after the pressurised structure was delivered to the company last month.\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6281 lazyload\"  data- style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 800px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 800\/500;\"\/>Credit: The Exploration Company<\/p>\n<p>The Exploration Company has completed initial testing of the pressurised structure for its Nyx Structural Test Model (STM). The structure was manufactured by CNIM Syst\u00e8mes Industriels in France and delivered to the company in mid-February.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2021, The Exploration Company is developing a modular space capsule called Nyx that will initially be used to transport cargo to and from low Earth orbit. Later versions are intended for lunar cargo missions and potential crew transport to and from orbit.<\/p>\n<p>On 31 March, The Exploration Company announced that it had successfully completed a set of pressure tests on the Nyx STM. This type of testing is used to verify that the spacecraft\u2019s pressurised structure can safely withstand internal cabin pressure and the stresses experienced during flight.<\/p>\n<p>According to the company, the test utilised the STM in a \u201cminimal configuration,\u201d with the recently delivered pressurised compartment fitted with displacement sensors and strain gauges to assess how the structure responded under load.<\/p>\n<p>In its 31 March statement, the company said that the testing confirmed that the pressurised structure behaves as expected. In addition to testing the design of the pressurised structure, the tests were also used to validate modelled projections with real-world data.<\/p>\n<p>With the completion of this latest milestone, The Exploration Company will now proceed with STM vibration testing, which will simulate the mechanical loads and oscillations experienced during launch.<\/p>\n<p>The completion of the Nyx STM pressure tests came a little under two months after the company conducted a <a href=\"https:\/\/europeanspaceflight.com\/the-exploration-company-completes-nyx-splashdown-tests\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">series of splashdown tests<\/a> on a subscale model of the capsule to ensure that Nyx and its cargo will survive sea-based recovery. More recently, the company fully characterised the Peripheral Docking Target, a pattern that enables precise alignment of the spacecraft during final approach and docking. While the company appears to be progressing quickly through the development of Nyx, there is still a lot to be done before the capsule\u2019s planned 2028 debut.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/europeanspaceflight.substack.com\/p\/interview-with-helene-huby\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Speaking to European Spaceflight in late 2025<\/a>, The Exploration Company\u2019s CEO, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Huby, explained that the company intended to begin building flight hardware, \u201cstarting with the cylinder of the vehicle\u201d in early 2026. However, the company has not yet indicated whether manufacturing has begun.<\/p>\n<p>        Keep European Spaceflight Independent<\/p>\n<p>Your donation will help European Spaceflight to continue digging into the stories others miss. Every euro keeps our reporting alive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: The Exploration Company The Exploration Company has completed initial testing of the pressurised structure for its Nyx&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,80,105475],"class_list":{"0":"post-385984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-technology","11":"tag-the-exploration-company"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}