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## Tour
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### Title
tour.name = PACE Lab
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Button_7DB31382_7065_343F_41D6_641BBE1B2562.label = xLab Overview Video
Button_7DB31382_7065_343F_41D6_641BBE1B2562_mobile.label = to PACE Lab
Button_7DB33382_7065_343F_41B1_0B0F019C1828.label = Welcome to PACE Lab
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Button_7DBC8382_7065_343F_4183_17B44518DB40.label = • Anechoic Chamber
Button_7DBC8382_7065_343F_4183_17B44518DB40_mobile.label = • RF Chamber
Button_7DBCA382_7065_343F_41DB_48D975E3D9EC.label = • Environmental Testing Lab
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Button_9D316F19_BE50_5156_41C7_BADC0D2A4EC7_mobile.label = Testing
Button_F3E0EB9B_D894_995F_41E5_FC4D6B547307_mobile.label = www.aerospace.org
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HTMLText_7DB2E382_7065_343F_41C2_951F708170F1.html = The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
The Aerospace Corporation
www.aero.org
John Binkley
SYSTEMS DIRECTOR
Aerospace uses this portion of PACE Lab as a staging area for our Remote Testing Vehicle. This vehicle enables radio frequency equipment and experiments to travel nationally in support of customer programs. The vehicle can support several operators using the equipment to investigate the radio frequency environment at the location of interest or deploy terminals for satellite communications.
Satellites take a good jostling during the launch process, and it’s imperative that the payloads can withstand the shaking. This vibration table mimics that experience to ensure the payloads remain intact and functional. The hardware under test is bolted to the table, and various shaking experiences can be programmed and run to emulate the launch environment.
Our staff use this thermal vacuum chamber to assess CubeSats in the same environment they would experience in space. The chamber can perform low-pressure testing while also cycling the temperature in a fashion similar to what a CubeSat would experience as it goes in and out of sunlight. The chamber’s cylindrical size, 36 in long by 30 in diameter, allows us to test CubeSats 3U to 27U.
Radio frequency (RF) payloads on satellites need to operate as intended, whether that means staying silent while aboard the launch vehicle, broadcasting energy only in the allocated spectral bands, or focusing energy in the right direction. To this end, PACE Lab hosts a 60 ft by 16 ft by 16 ft anechoic chamber that is used for testing radio frequency performance of the integrated CubeSat payload or of an antenna by itself. The chamber’s shielded walls enable testing without interference from other signals that are part of our everyday life (for example, cell phone and WiFi signals that are nearly everywhere now). The blue cones absorb radio frequency energy to prevent signals from reflecting off the walls. This enables us to evaluate CubeSats as if they were alone in space.
We can test CubeSats in our thermal cycle chamber, which simulates the temperatures they will experience in space. This is typically the first environmental test performed, as it is an earlier detector of design and manufacturing problems. Thermal cycle chambers are also used to test equipment intended for terrestrial applications where the equipment may be outside for extended periods of time (at high or low temperatures).
In our Payload Characterization and Environments (PACE) Lab, we perform environmental testing of smallsat payloads for our customers. We test payloads to ensure they can operate once in orbit. Space is a harsh environment, and the ride to space is especially rough. Electronics we use in our everyday lives will not operate in space nor survive the trip there. Our testing equipment includes a radio frequency anechoic chamber, thermal cycle chamber, thermal vacuum chamber, and vibration table. Additionally the facility is home to a mobile lab that enables radio frequency experimentation to be deployed off campus. Whether in support of CubeSat testing or other customer programs, we can go where the testing is needed.
PACE Lab is part of Aerospace’s nationwide work in hardware prototyping, which includes testing facilities like these in Virginia as well as those in California. PACE Lab is a collaboration with experts from our Communications Technologies Division, Electronic Sensors Division, Vehicle Systems Division, and xLab. It takes teams of experts to build space systems.