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The University of Southampton
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David Fearn Electric Propulsion Lab

Our state-of-the-art David Fearn Electric Propulsion Lab simulates space, in particular lower Earth orbit.

The lab is used for testing various types of electric propulsion systems in particular small to medium plasma based thrusters for spacecraft, for instance gridded ion thrusters and Hall thrusters.

The lab allows thermal vacuum testing of heating and cooling, up to about 100+ degrees Celsius and down to -50 degrees Celsius. The heating and cooling simulates the spacecraft’s environment in lower Earth orbit in particular.

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