Insights

The operational vacuum test was conducted over the course of eight hours and the chamber ultimately achieved a base pressure of 3.1 x 10-7 Torr, which is one billion times lower than the standard atmospheric pressure that surrounds us on a typical day. This pressure corresponds to an altitude of approximately 200 miles above sea level, which is midway between the 100–300 mile altitudes that low earth orbit satellites typically fly. The graph below provides details of the successful vacuum test.

“This new capability enables Riverside Research to perform advanced research and development in plasma physics and space applications,” said Dr. Jeffrey Pursel, Director, Open Innovation Center. “It will support ionospheric and space plasma environments, hypersonic plasma environments, space propulsion, plasma-magnetic field interactions, dusty plasmas, and plasma-based material processing applications.”

Pressure Log of the Test