Medium Scale Vacuum Chamber
This research-oriented facility enables the testing of electric propulsion systems with power levels below 5 kW, with particular focus on Hall Effect Thrusters (HET) and ion thrusters.
The MSVC facility, operational since January 2022, is configured as a space simulator specifically dedicated to electric propulsion. It consists of an ultra-high-vacuum chamber equipped with all the accessories and subsystems required to perform tests, as well as units for the generation of static and dynamic vacuum.
- Pumping speed up to 80,000 l/s (Xe)
- Cooled walls
- Dimensions: D = 2 m, L = 4.5 m
Technical Characteristics
Multistage pumping system (down to 10⁻⁸ mbar), consisting of:
- Primary system – one dry pump (Oerlikon Leybold LEYVAC LV140 – 100 m³/h) and one roots pump (ROOTS WAU 501 – 500 m³/h);
- High and Ultra-High Vacuum systems – one turbomolecular pump (Oerlikon Leybold TURBOVAC MAG 700 – 700 l/s in N₂), one cryopump (Oerlikon Leybold COOLVAC 10000 – 10,000 l/s in N₂), four single-stage cold heads (CHDs – 74,000 l/s in Xe);
- Vessel made of micropeened AISI 304L stainless steel.
Test Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques
- 4 pressure transducers;
- 1 mass spectrometer (Residual Gas Analyzer);
- 3 pressure transducers interfaced with the vacuum generation system (installed on the turbopump and cryopump);
- High-speed imaging and thermography;
- Faraday probes and Langmuir probes;
- Thrust balance (1–100 mN);
- Thermocouples and resistance temperature detectors (RTDs).