Johnson Space Center Engineering was established for manned space vehicles from early concept to certified spaceflight vehicles and components. The integrated environments facilities test, evaluate, and certify for spaceflight. These facilities and capabilities include thermal vacuum chambers, entry environment testing, electromagnetic testing, hypervelocity impact resistance, mechanical and acoustic vibration, neutral buoyancy laboratory, and others. Our analysis, modeling, and interpretation of test results are unique to the Johnson Space Center and critical to the future of human spaceflight.

Capabilities:

• Thermal Testing
• Structural Testing
• Thermal Vacuum Testing
• Vibration Testing
• Acoustic Testing
• Electromagnetic Interference / Electromagnetic Compatibility

Thermal Testing

Johnson Space Center (JSC) thermal test facilities offer a wide range of performance capability, which can be matched to the individual test requirements of smaller test articles or large test article components and subsystems. Typical uses of these chambers have included development, engineering evaluation, and qualification testing of spacecraft components, subassemblies and experiments, and preflight thermal conditioning of flight hardware.

Services Provided

• Temperature and humidity cycling
• Accurate determination of design factors
  • Operating temperatures
  • Changes in absorptive or emissive properties of thermal coating
  • Changes in electrical or mechanical properties of materials
     
• Accelerated electrical or electronic components burn-ins and life-cycle testing
• Environmental cycling (thermal and humidity) for materials survivability
• Battery performance and abuse testing

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Structural Testing

Johnson Space Center (JSC) provides structural static and fatigue load testing for payloads and spacecraft structures. Tests range from mechanical properties testing of materials to full-scale verification testing of payloads and spacecraft structures. JSC is equipped with a variety of hydraulic and electromechanical load frames with maximum load capacities ranging from 10 to 220 kip. JSC also provides for nondestructive evaluation of hardware utilizing x-ray, ultrasonic, fluorescent penetrant, magnetic particle, infrared thermography, and eddy current techniques. Structural testing facilities provide capability to perform test and evaluation of both aerospace and nonaerospace hardware.

Structural Testing Services Provided:

Static and fatigue load testing using single or multiple actuators up to 220,000 lb

• Tension and compression testing – load or displacement control
  • Cyclic testing up to 100 Hz
  • Fracture mechanics property testing
     
• Tensile, lap shear, and compression testing of materials at low and elevated temperatures
• Fatigue/fracture coupon tests
   

Structural Testing Features

• Twelve load frames can be operated in tension and compression and either load or displacement control
• Cyclic testing up to 100 Hz, depending on the load and stroke
• Ten load frames can be configured for fracture mechanics property testing, including automated da/dN testing.
• Actuators are controlled up to 6 stroke or 32 load control channels or any combination of both.
• Tensile, lap shear, and compression testing of materials and components at low and elevated temperatures
• Sizable inventory of linear resistive deflection potentiometers, displacement/velocity transducers, LVDT deflection transducers, RVDT angular displacement transducers, thermocouples, and force washers

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 Nondestructive Evaluation Services Provided:

• Radiographic Testing
  • Computed Tomography
  • Digital Radiography
  • Standard Film Radiography
• Ultrasonic Testing
  • Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing
  • C-scan Ultrasonic Testing
  • Conventional Ultrasonic Testing
• Infrared Thermography Inspection
  • Flash Infrared Thermography Testing
  • Infrared Thermography Testing
• Remote Evaluation Techniques
  • Laser Shearography
  • High Speed Imagery
• Eddy Current Testing
  • Array Eddy Current Testing
  • Conventional Eddy Current Testing
• Liquid Penetrant and Magnetic Particle Inspection
  • Florescent and visible mediums for both methods

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Thermal-Vacuum Testing

Johnson Space Center (JSC) Thermal-Vacuum Test Facilities provide thermal-vacuum chamber test operations for both manned and unmanned test environments. The facilities offer a wide range of performance capability, which can be matched to the individual test requirements of smaller test articles or large test article components and subsystems. Typical uses of these chambers have included development, engineering evaluation, and qualification testing of spacecraft components, subassemblies, and experiments; preflight thermal-vacuum conditioning of flight hardware; development and calibration of instruments for use in the large chambers or in-flight; spacecraft seal studies; photographic film emulsion studies; and optical surface contamination studies.

Thermal-Vacuum Testing Services Provided

• Human-rated space environmental testing
• Materials outgassing evaluations
• Accelerated electrical and electronic component burn-ins and life-cycle testing
• Environmental cycling (thermal and humidity) for materials survivability
• Materials and hardware testing in extreme environments (manned and unmanned)
• Determination of design factors
  • Operating temperatures
  • Combined thermal and pressure-load distortions of dimensionally critical structural elements
  • Fluid and gas leak rates
  • Changes in absorptive or emissive properties of thermal coating
  • Evolution of harmful or undesirable off-gassing products
  • Presence of conditions conducive to electrical-arc or corona discharge
     

 Thermal-Vacuum Test Facilities

 Chamber A

Chamber A is the largest of the thermal-vacuum test facilities at JSC. The chamber’s usable test volume and high-fidelity space simulation capabilities are adaptable for thermal-vacuum testing of a wide variety of test articles, including entire space vehicles. Additional test support equipment includes mass spectrometers, infrared cameras, and television cameras. The numerous flanges at all levels provide ample pass-throughs for electrical, instrumentation, and gasses to support large systems.

Chamber B

Chamber B is used for human testing in a vacuum environment and for crewed space operations testing. Chamber B is a human-rated chamber equipped with a traversing monorail that provides weight relief to one suited crewmember at a time. The chamber also has dual crew-locks to provide easy access to the test articles as well as a means of transporting test crewmembers to the test environment and back during tests.

Chamber E

Chamber E is a thermal vacuum chamber designed for relatively large gas loads at high vacuum. It is equipped with cold walls, an on-axis filtered xenon solar simulator, and pumping systems suitable for trace-contaminant sensitive tests.

15-Foot Chamber

The 15-Foot Chamber is a spherical chamber designed to test advanced concepts for battery power systems, space vehicle actuators, and auxiliary power units.

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Vibration Testing

Rocket boosters and spacecraft are subject to intense acoustic environments during launch, which induce high levels of vibration in structural elements and equipment. In addition, elastic structural interactions with propulsion systems and flight control systems can produce low-frequency, high-deflection flight instabilities. Johnson Space Center (JSC) offers a wide range of tests needed to evaluate all aspects of structural dynamics, including vibration, vibroacoustics, modal character-istics, sound transmission loss, and shock testing. Ground testing to simulate launch-induced vibration or to investigate structural dynamic characteristics has proven to be vital in developing successful spacecraft programs. JSC facilities provide the capability to perform test and evaluation of both aerospace and nonaerospace hardware.

 Vibration Testing Services Provided:

• Simulations of broadband random vibrations induced in spacecraft by external acoustic pressures
• Sine sweeps to identify resonances
• Broadband random environments that do not simulate mission conditions but are appropriate for precipitating impending failures due to workmanship defects
• Vibration of hazardous test articles, including pressurized systems and explosive materials – vibration in a thermal environment
• Vibroacoustic structural testing to high sound pressure levels of large structures, components, and small subsystems
• Modal characteristics
  • Natural frequencies
  • Damping ratios
  • Mode shapes
     
• Mathematical or FEA model correlation

Vibration Facilities:

General Vibration Laboratory

The GVL has five primary testbeds; however, unique testbeds can be constructed as necessary to meet a specific test project. Inside the GVL enclosure (removable ceiling panels), the 40,000 lbf shakers for the vertical and horizontal testbeds are mounted to seismic floors. Outside the GVL enclosure are two more testbeds, an 18,000 lbf vertical testbed and a 20,000 lbf horizontal testbed. The GVL also houses a 8,000 lbf human-rated vibration testbed. The laboratory typically provides testing for subsystems and smaller components from as large as an aircraft rudder to as small as a 4 oz heart rate monitor.

Spacecraft Vibration Laboratory

The SVL was specifically designed for vibration testing of large structures and used for Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle, and Space Station tests. It provides a vast array of access platforms to the test articles. Massive test articles can be supported by pneumatic springs and subjected to high-force inputs, which simulate rocket-induced discrete-frequency or random loads with distributed mechanical shakers. Typical testing functions performed include high-force vibration (random and sine), shock vibration, and fixed- base and free-free modal testing.

 Hazardous Vibration Test Stand

The Hazardous Vibration Test Stand provides for vibration of pressurized systems and explosive materials and vibration within a thermal environment. The test stand supports test articles (including fixture) up to 2,000 lb. Vibration capability includes sine, random, and classical shock.

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Acoustic Testing

Johnson Space Center (JSC) provides a wide range of tests needed to evaluate exposure to harsh acoustic environments and audio communication system performance associated with the powered flight of aerospace vehicles. Capabilities include reverberant and progressive wave acoustic testing, electroacoustic and audio processing equipment testing, and audio and acoustic research.

Acoustic Services Provided

• Simulations of broadband random vibrations induced in spacecraft by external acoustic pressures
• Vibroacoustic structural testing to high sound pressure levels of large structures, components, and small subsystems
• Closed-loop 1/3 octave band control system to provide the best possible spectrum shaping and decibel ranges in excess of 162 dB
• Sine sweeps to identify resonances
• Uniform simulated acoustic environments for performance testing electroacoustic devices
• Ultra low ambient acoustic noise environment for testing microphone performance and characterizing acoustic emission sources
• Low acoustic noise environment used for audio recording and subjective audio performance testing

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Vibroacoustic Testing

 Vibroacoustic and sound transmission loss testing is primarily performed in the Spacecraft Acoustic Laboratory (SAL) or the Sonic Fatigue Laboratory (SFL). These two laboratories are versatile in their test capabilities. Noise generation is through the use of compressed air to the high- and low-frequency modulators, which in turn are coupled to the acoustic horns for generating the acoustic excitation in the reverberant chambers and progressive wave tubes.

Audio Development Laboratory

The Audio Development Laboratory (ADL) provides for design, development, test, and evaluation of audio sound equipment. The laboratory houses a reverberation chamber, quiet room, and an anechoic chamber. The reverberation chamber provides uniform simulated acoustic environments for performance testing electroacoustic devices, such as earphones, with passive noise attenuation and noise canceling microphones. The anechoic chamber provides ultra low ambient acoustic noise environment for testing microphone performance and characterizing acoustic emission sources. The quiet room provides low acoustic noise environment used for audio recording and subjective audio performance testing.

 Electromagnetic Interference/Electromagnetic Compatibility

The Electromagnetic Interference/Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMI/EMC) Control Test and Measurement Facility supports engineering development and provides EMI/EMC evaluation and certification testing of crew, flight, and ground support equipment, including but not limited to communication, instrumentation, biomedical, guidance and navigation, computation, and robotics. The Computational Electromagnetics Laboratory is used for full-wave, frequency domain electromagnetic simulations.

Services Provided

• Developmental, engineering support, performance and precertification evaluation, and certification testing
• Conducted and radiated emissions and susceptibility testing (e.g., Mil-STD-461, all revisions; DO-160, sections 16 through 21)
• Lightning indirect effects and electrostatic discharge assessment (e.g., DO-160, sections 22 and 25)
• Cable transfer impedance and equipment shielding effectiveness assessment
• EMC design consultation
• General three-dimensional (3D) frequency domain electromagnetic analysis

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