{"id":83,"date":"2026-09-16T10:50:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/?page_id=83"},"modified":"2026-09-16T14:41:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T13:41:59","slug":"hvi-spe-laboratories","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/research\/facilities\/hvi-spe-laboratories\/","title":{"rendered":"HVI & SPE Laboratories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We welcome all enquiries for conducting experiments in our laboratories, please Contact us<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

All-Axis Light Gas Gun<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Capable of simulating high-speed impacts, providing valuable insights into planetary collision phenomena.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

George<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Large Dirty Mars Chamber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large, adaptable, environmental simulation chamber suitable for a wide range of scientific and engineering investigations, whether these be clean or a bit messy!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Edmund<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Clean Cylindrical Chamber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Queenie<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Large Clean Bell-Jar Chamber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideal for experiments requiring a large headspace, clean vacuum environment, allowing for versatile research setups.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Baldrick<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Large Clean Circular Chamber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u2018clean\u2019 flat-bottomed testbed for astrobiological exposure experiments to extreme environments, such as variable vacuum pressure, temperature and UV simulated environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bob<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Small Desktop Chamber<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A compact chamber perfect for smaller-scale experiments or preliminary testing in a controlled space environment on faster experiment timescales<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Photo<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Van de Graaff Dust Accelerator<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For accelerating dust particles (up to 40\u00b5m in diameter) at ~80 km\/s<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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! All-Axis Light Gas Gun […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":70,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_unity_review_frequency":"","_unity_review_next_due":0,"_unity_review_reset_requested":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-83","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/83\/revisions\/124"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schools.stem.open.ac.uk\/physical-sciences\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}