Where Space Comes Down to Earth: Test Facilities for Exploration Systems

The NASA Glenn Research Center's (GRC's) Plum Brook Station has a complement of unique, highly capable facilities that can test space flight hardware ranging from development testing at the component, subsystem and system levels up to environmental qualification of very large spacecraft and extraterrestrial surface systems. The facilities can simulate the conditions of free space or the surfaces of the Moon or Mars, including atmospheric pressure and content, temperature and day/night cycles. This paper presents information on the facilities at the Plum Brook Station as they apply to the development of space systems that support the Vision for Space Exploration, and cites specific examples of testing to illustrate those capabilities.