Momentus Books ARCSPACE Welding Payload for 2027 Vigoride-9 Mission

A new agreement puts an ARCSPACE autonomous welding experiment aboard a Momentus Vigoride-9 Orbital Service Vehicle flight projected for 2027. The planned low Earth orbit mission will test welding in microgravity, where the companies aim to evaluate weld quality, process stability and operating performance.

Engineers on the ground will analyze information transmitted by the payload. Momentus will provide spacecraft power and communications, along with command and control and operational support. The agreement was announced Oct. 15 at 8 a.m. ET (12:00 UTC).

ARCSPACE CEO Guillaume Mohara described the in-orbit demonstration as “a critical step toward building larger and more capable structures in space.” The test is intended to generate performance data that could support future manufacturing, assembly and repair work in space.

Momentus announced a separate agreement in June to host and operate two instruments for the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics on Vigoride-9. That mission was also targeted for launch in 2027.