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STEM Physical Sciences

Explore research and projects from STEM Physical Sciences.

HVI & SPE Laboratories

The Open University has a unique set of hypervelocity impact and extreme environment simulation facilities that can be used to simulate extreme shock, pressure, temperature and UV irradiation conditions. Discover below the different facilities available within our laboratories

We welcome all enquiries for conducting experiments in our laboratories, please Contact us!

Photo of All-Axis Light Gas Gun

All-Axis Light Gas Gun

Capable of simulating high-speed impacts, providing valuable insights into planetary collision phenomena.

Photo of George - The Large Dirty Mars Chamber

George

Large Dirty Mars Chamber

Large, adaptable, environmental simulation chamber suitable for a wide range of scientific and engineering investigations, whether these be clean or a bit messy!

Photo of Edmund - Clean Cylindrical Chamber

Edmund

Clean Cylindrical Chamber

A ‘clean’ controlled environment, with dedicated solar illumination, well-suited to instrument qualification and astrobiology experiments under extreme low pressures, low temperatures and UV conditions.

Photo of Queenie - Large Clean Bell-Jar Chamber

Queenie

Large Clean Bell-Jar Chamber

Ideal for experiments requiring a large headspace, clean vacuum environment, allowing for versatile research setups.

Photo of Baldrick - Large Clean Circular Chamber

Baldrick

Large Clean Circular Chamber

A ‘clean’ flat-bottomed testbed for astrobiological exposure experiments to extreme environments, such as variable vacuum pressure, temperature and UV simulated environments.

Photo of Bob - Small Desktop Chamber

Bob

Small Desktop Chamber

A compact chamber perfect for smaller-scale experiments or preliminary testing in a controlled space environment on faster experiment timescales

Photo of the Van de Graaff Dust Accelerator

Van de Graaff Dust Accelerator

For accelerating dust particles (up to 40µm in diameter) at ~80 km/s