Space Environment Simulator

The Space Environment Simulator is a large thermal vacuum chamber. It's about 60 feet high (with about 30 feet being located below ground level) although the usable area is "only" 40 ft high. It can subject a test payload to temperatures between -310°F to 302°F. The tour guide said that an Apollo lunar module was once tested here.

To place items in the simulator, the top slides off, using rails in the scaffolding above the chamber (the "head handler"). Goddard's web site has a video of the top being removed and also a picture of the inside the simulator.

When we visited, the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3, an instrument to be installed in the Hubble Space Telescope on Servicing Mission 4) was being tested in the SES.

Problems in the Construction of a Space Environment Simulator contains additional information about the simulator, including a structural diagram, and NASA also has a data sheet on the SES [direct link to 569K PDF].