UK testing facilities
Open University Planetary Environment Chambers
The Open University, Department of Physical Sciences
Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England
Access: Unknown
Testing capabilities
- Thermal vacuum
- Climatic and environmental exposure
- Functional and integrated-system testing
Services
Planetary environment simulation for Mars, icy bodies and Mercury; thermal cycling, vacuum, CO2/N2 low-pressure atmosphere, UV solar simulation and dry-heat sterilisation testing for instruments/rover subsystems.
Equipment
Large Mars chamber 0.9 m diameter x 1.8 m, -70°C to +110°C at 6 mbar CO2/N2 with UV simulation; small Mars chamber 0.7 m x 1.2 m same temperature/pressure; icy-bodies chamber 140 mm x 150 mm, -150°C; Mercury chamber 0.7 m diameter x 0.8 m, -100°C to +180°C, vacuum below 10^-5 mbar and xenon solar simulator.
Standards
No accreditation or standards stated on cited profile.
Contact
Email: m.r.patel@open.ac.uk; Named contact: Professor Manish Patel (Professor of Planetary Science; environmental simulation facilities contact)
Approximate location
Milton Keynes · Town location