An ultra-clean thermal vacuum facility located within the SRC is used to support very cold testing of planetary instrumentation. The Mars Environmental Simulator, MES, originally developed for Beagle 2, is used for ultra-cold testing of flight parts. The MES is designed specifically for simulating the temperature and 6mBar atmospheric conditions of Mars but can be used to replicate other hostile environments. A Sterrad NX-100 H2O2 sterilisation chamber is available, along with DHMR and CO2 snow cleaning and supported with 3M PetriFilm swab verification and ATP surface monitoring. The MES dimensions are ~300 mm diameter x ~550 mm length. The University also has a variety of additional test and calibration facilities, including: vacuum X-ray test and calibration chambers and environmental test cabinets, and related CAD and mission-analysis software systems.
