Abstract EANA2024-182

The Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences houses two experimental research facilities which are called AstroLab. One facility is used for projects related to in-house research and project work, and another for research corporations or guest researchers. The facilities are designed to be highly adaptive to new and changing research question. Therefore, the vacuum chambers are of various sizes and modular stackable, which allows to accommodate samples, test objects and containers of vastly different forms and sizes. The basic dimensions are 40 cm diameter and 40 cm high cylinders which can be combined into larger units. Additionally, smaller vacuum vessels are available for more specialized applications. To allow for a good experimental data quality, highly accurate sensors are used. This includes pressure and temperature sensors, as well as a mass spectrometer and various gas-flow controller and other diagnostics. Most experiments can be controlled remotely via a unified device interface.

Past research was initially focused on cometary research and physical properties extending to sensor development and testing. However, our activities included also simulating Martian atmospheric conditions to study the survivability of halophilic microorganisms in ancient rock (Stan-Lotter 2003). Recent studies focus on rarefied gas-flow through porous media to better understand cometary outgassing (Schweighart 2020, Laddha 2023, Macher 2024, Zivithal 2024) and on the formation of halites in different planetary scenarios (Abrevaya 2016,2023).

 

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[2] Schweighart, M., et al. "Viscous and Knudsen gas flow through dry porous cometary analogue material." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 504.4 (2021): 5513-5527.

[3] Laddha, Sunny, et al. "Validation of gas flow experiments for porous media by means of computer simulations." Measurement Science and Technology 34.4 (2023): 045012.

[4] Macher, Wolfgang, et al. "Transmission probability of gas molecules through porous layers at Knudsen diffusion." Journal of Engineering Mathematics 144.1 (2024): 1-26.

[5] Zivithal, Stephan, et al. "Grain polydispersity and non-sphericity effects on gas flow through granular beds using measurements and modelling." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 531.3 (2024): 3642-3657.

[6] Abrevaya, Ximena, et al. Synthesis of Halite Under Martian Simulated Conditions: A Study with Astrobiological Implications 47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held March 21-25, 2016 at The Woodlands, Texas. LPI Contribution No. 1903, p.2134, 2016

[7] Abrevaya, Ximena, et al. Protective Effects of Halite to Vacuum and Vacuum-Ultraviolet Radiation: A Potential Scenario During a Young Sun Superflare, Astrobiology, Volume 23, Issue 3, pp. 245-268, 2023