NASA | US: Acoustic Control for the World's Most Powerful Reverb Chamber
The client
NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility (formerly Plum Brook Station) is a remote campus of Glenn Research Center. Situated on 6,400 acres in Sandusky, Ohio, it is home to some of the world’s largest and most capable space simulation test facilities, where ground tests are conducted for the U.S. and international space and aeronautics communities.
Its Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility (RATF) is considered the most powerful spacecraft acoustic test chamber in the world, designed to simulate the extreme noise levels experienced by during launch.
Photo credit: Acoustic testing of Orion's ogive panels | NASA
The solution
m+p international delivered and commissioned the Reverberant Acoustic Test Facility with its digital Acoustic Control Systems. This setup manages 23 servohydraulic modulators and 13 electromagnetic modulators with up to 24 control/measurement microphones. For maximum flexibility and safety, the system is operated remotely via a fiber optic LAN.
The result
"The m+p acoustic control system in place at NASA Plum Brook, which can drive all of our reverb chamber’s 36 noise modulators, suits our needs very well. I have been relying on the m+p acoustic control system at NASA, and elsewhere, since 2003 and I have always been given attentive and accurate support from the m+p office."
Aron Hozman, Vibroacoustic Test Systems Manager at NASA Glenn Research Center, Sandursky, Ohio/USA