Terra firma’s space chamber
Terra firma’s space chamber Wired / DLR


The German Aerospace Centre, or Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt (DLR), is experiencing deep space. At the heart of the complex in Göttingen, central Germany, is a €4 million (£3.3 million), 236 cubic metre vacuum chamber in which scientists can research electric spacecraft-propulsion technologies without having to lift off.

A spacecraft's ion engines generate thrust by accelerating beams of positively charged particles at high speed using an electric field. But ion-beam technology isn't perfect and can interfere with and damage spacecraft parts, putting sensitive equipment such as solar panels out of action. So DLR researchers are developing engines that can minimise this kind of damage, as well as looking at materials that might be less likely to fail. "Our instruments are very sensitive," says Andreas Neumann, chamber manager at DLR. "So the challenge is to isolate the chamber from outside vibrations."

Inside the five-metre-wide, 12-metre-deep tube, researchers have enough room to fit entire sections of satellites alongside their engines. Once the chamber is sealed by its 4.5-tonne lid, the gas pressure inside it is lowered by a helium-based cryogenic pump, creating the vacuum. Running liquid helium through the walls brings the temperature down to -268°C; the walls are kept cold to ensure no ion exhausts will reflect back into the chamber -- at these temperatures, gas particles will freeze as they hit the walls. It's the closest you can get to deep-space conditions on Earth.


  1. Wow this is amazing!! Those crazy Germans! You gotta love them!  

    Apr 4th 2012

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