The lab at ARB is a clean room, meaning it is designed to filter out airborne particles and pollutants like dust, microbes, and aerosols. The lab's industry partners include Lockheed Martin, Ball Aerospace and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, while its federal funding agencies include NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense.
What's more, the lab has developed and supports camera systems used on telescopes owned and operated by the University. The most common applications for its imaging technologies are in the fields of astronomy, satellite imagery such as Earth observations, and the manufacturing of electronic devices. Under the direction of research professor and astronomer Michael Lesser, the ITL is a world-leading supplier of advanced scientific imaging sensors for visible, ultraviolet, and x-ray light detection. Tests inside the TVC can run from a day to two weeks.Normal atmospheric pressure is defined as 1 atmosphere or 760 torr. The TVC can achieve vacuum pressures as low as 5 torr and can cool to the temperature of liquid nitrogen, or -315☏.It weighs 40 tons, or roughly 81,000 pounds.The TV chamber can fit objects the size of an entire pickup truck inside of it.
The TV chamber simulates both the pressure and temperature conditions found in space, as well as the near space environment. This facilitates testing the performance of all components and subsystems prior to launch. Spacecraft and high altitude, balloon-borne, science payloads benefit from testing in the conditions they will operate in after launch. All materials – even aluminum and titanium, both of which are commonly used to fabricate nanosatellites – perform differently under different conditions. While the average temperature on a typical April day in Tucson is about 81 degrees Fahrenheit, temperatures on Mars average about minus 81 degrees.
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