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JPL’s Torture Chamber for Spacecraft
The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity being tested under Martian conditions in JPL’s space simulator on March 8, 2011. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This is a place where engineers inflict all sorts of cruelty. It’s also a National Historic Landmark that is now 50 years old. What is it? The Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Space Simulator. While the name sounds like it could be a video game or virtual reality trainer, it actually is the place where spacecraft go to see if they’ve the right stuff to survive the harsh environment in space.
Known as the “25-Foot Space Simulator” it is the only NASA facility capable of producing true interplanetary conditions such as extreme cold, high vacuum, and intense solar radiation that is big enough for most spacecraft to fit inside.
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Read the rest of JPL’s Torture Chamber for Spacecraft (599 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: JPL, NASA, Space Simulator
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2012-09-07 15:31:27
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/97249/jpls-torture-chamber-for-spacecraft/
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