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Diffusion Pump Facility

This experimental facility consists of a nonmagnetic stainless-steel tank approximately 1 m in diameter and 1.5 m in length pumped by two 50 cm diameter diffusion pumps and backed by a 425 L/s mechanical pump. The facility is equipped with several viewports and feedthroughs for optical and probe access to a plasma discharge. The base pressure of the facility with no gas flow is approximately 10-6 Torr as measured by an ionization gauge uncorrected for gas species. The background pressure during discharge operation at a xenon flow rate of 2.3 mg/s is typically 10-4 Torr.



As you can see, I used to be owned by NASA, but those stickers got torn off...



... or photoshopped away.



The heart of this chamber is a red hot bismuth thruster. But the plasma it makes is blue. Add some white, and that spells America!