Please Note: The Europlanet 2024 RI project, which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 871149, closed in July 2024. This archive page describes Transnational Access (TA) activities funded through the Europlanet 2024 RI project.
TA2 Facility 23 – Open University Flow Through Chambers
Average visit: 5 days
The environmental simulation chambers at the Open University are capable of sustaining a range of pressures and temperatures to simulate the near- and sub-surface environments of Mars and the icy moons of Europa and Enceladus. The novel characteristic of these high-pressure chambers is their capability of continuously flowing fluid through the chamber whilst simultaneously sampling chamber fluids (under anaerobic conditions), making them an open-system and more realistic to natural environments. The facility currently consists of two chambers:
- Chamber 1 – has a chamber volume of 300 ml, a temperature range going from ambient to 350 °C and a pressure range of 0 to 50 bar.
- Chamber 2 – has a chamber volume of 600 ml, a temperature range of -10 to 150 °C and a pressure range of 0 to 300 bar.Each chamber also possesses a magnetic stirrer and a temperature logging function.
The facility also has the capacity to make bespoke gas mixtures, which can be flushed into the chambers. These chambers are suitable for investigating, water-rock and water-rock-atmosphere reactions, and microbial growth experiments.
Contact:
Karen Olsson Francis, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK. Karen.Olsson-Francis@open.ac.uk
Main facility website
Report summaries of TA visits to facility
Publications related to TA2.23 facilities and visits
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