NASA 1 - Vacuum Chamber
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 11:39 pmPart one: the Vacuum Chamber. Guys, this is the biggest thing Ive ever seen. When you walk into the building you are speechless, its just so big 
Its also a National Historic Landmark 
I cant even get the whole thing in one picture. Actually, I wouldnt be able to anyways, it goes 3 stories down in addition to the 9 stories it goes up
Looking up inside, just huge. Youll notice the wall has all these square protrusions (running up and down). In the back of those there is liquid hydrogen. When it comes time to make a vacuum, liquid nitrogen is poured into the protrusions to cool the hydrogen as all air is pumped out. The pressure gets down to 1/100000000 of a torr (virtually a vacuum) and the temperature simulates the cold of space. The foil on the right is used to simulate sunlight. All in all the Vacuum process takes about 13 hours, and the chamber is used once every 3 and a half years (a smaller one on the other side of the room is used more often)
This is the door, 40 feet in diameter, weights a lot but is balanced well enough tthat one person can move it. YOu can get some perspective as to its sheer size by the people. It is SO big that it was here before the building, the building was built around it
And here is me and my team (we won!) in front of the door, im in the middle to the right of the girl in the blue shirt
More to come!
Its also a National Historic Landmark I cant even get the whole thing in one picture. Actually, I wouldnt be able to anyways, it goes 3 stories down in addition to the 9 stories it goes up
Looking up inside, just huge. Youll notice the wall has all these square protrusions (running up and down). In the back of those there is liquid hydrogen. When it comes time to make a vacuum, liquid nitrogen is poured into the protrusions to cool the hydrogen as all air is pumped out. The pressure gets down to 1/100000000 of a torr (virtually a vacuum) and the temperature simulates the cold of space. The foil on the right is used to simulate sunlight. All in all the Vacuum process takes about 13 hours, and the chamber is used once every 3 and a half years (a smaller one on the other side of the room is used more often)
This is the door, 40 feet in diameter, weights a lot but is balanced well enough tthat one person can move it. YOu can get some perspective as to its sheer size by the people. It is SO big that it was here before the building, the building was built around it
And here is me and my team (we won!) in front of the door, im in the middle to the right of the girl in the blue shirt
More to come!