GRASS gravimeter on shaker

The first instrument to directly measure gravity on the surface of an asteroid has undergone testing in ESA’s Mechanical Systems Laboratory. To prove it was ready for integration with Hera’s Juventas CubeSat, the GRASS gravimeter was subjected to spacelike vacuum and temperature extremes within a thermal vacuum chamber, then underwent sustained shaking to mimic the violence of a rocket launch, as seen here. The L-shaped instrument, the size of two smartphones stuck together, is designed to measure miniscule gravity levels because the Dimorphos asteroid it will touch down on is the smallest planetary object ever to be visited by a spacecraft.