High-Vacuum Plume Test Facility for Chemical Thrusters (STG-CT)

Testing room
View into the testing room. In the foreground lies the rear view of the engine. Electronics and fuel lines have to be heated. The insulation foil protects the cold walls from the radiated heat.
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Vacuum chamber (open)
The large-scale facility of the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) enables experiments with chemical attitude control thrusters under vacuum conditions similar to those in space.
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Stored, gaseous helium
Gaseous helium stored in pressure cylinders is liquefied in an expansion machine (left).
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The High-Vacuum Plume Test Facility for Chemical Thrusters (STG-CT) at the DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology in Göttingen is a unique cryogenic vacuum facility with a 10-cubic-metre test chamber where spacecraft thrusters can be operated and investigated under space-like vacuum conditions (< 10-5 milibar).

Space-like vacuum conditions for thrusters

This German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) large-scale facility enables experiments on chemical thrusters under space-like vacuum conditions. The aim of the experiments is to characterise the propagation of exhaust plumes and the way in which they interact with spacecraft components. The results of these tests are used to establish requirements for the planning of attitude and orbit control systems and manoeuvres, or to develop measures to prevent contamination or excessive heating.

Contact

Volker Speelmann

Head of Research Infrastructures
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Executive Board department for Innovation, Transfer and Research Infrastructure
Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne

Dr.-Ing. Martin Grabe

German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology
Spacecraft
Bunsenstraße 10, 37073 Göttingen