TA2 Facility – OU Mars Chamber (Planetary Environmental Simulation)
Average visit: 20 days
The Open University Mars Chamber is a large, adaptable environmental simulation chamber suitable for a wide range of scientific and engineering investigations.
At 1.8 m long and 0.9 m diameter, the chamber can recreate martian surface conditions for large-scale surface process studies, or for testing large instruments and equipment assemblies.
The temperature is fully controllable between -70ºC and 100ºC.
Atmospheres are typically N2, CO2, air or bespoke mixtures. The chamber pressure can be reduced to 2 mbar, in as little as 5 minutes, with automated control and logging. Extra filtration and frequent pump maintenance enable experiments that work with large volumes of dust.
Ongoing research includes simulations of mud-volcanism, surface runoff of both water and brine solutions on sediment slopes, CO2 sublimation-driven mass wasting on sediment slopes and CO2 sublimation-driven araneiform and dust plume simulations.
Supporting equipment includes:
- Pressure control & logging
- Temperature control & logging
- High speed video cameras
- High definition video cameras
- High speed pyrometer
- UV solar simulator
- In situ borescope
- Photogrammetry camera array & software
- A variety of data & power feedthroughs
- Horizontal, vertical & rotational mechanical feedthroughs
Contact:
Dr Manish Patel, School of Physical Sciences, Open University
Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom, manish.patel@open.ac.uk
Selected publications from previous TA visits to the OU Mars Chamber
Report summaries of TA visits to facility
Back to the TA2 Distributed Planetary Laboratory Facility Page
