The Aerospace Engineering Facility
a Space Flight Hardware Integration web page
Located at Phillips Laboratory in Albuquerque, NM
The AEF provides Phillips Laboratory with a cost effective means of
validating and testing of flight hardware and systems in support of
the US Air Force mission in space.
Available at a small blue terrestrial planet near you in Spring 1996.
The Aerospace Engineering Facility opened in January 1995 to provide
Phillips Laboratory with a modern facility for the examination,
testing, validation and integration of flight experiments and their
components. Consisting of a mix of office, laboratory, and integration
space, the AEF covers 16,500 square feet.
The Space Experiments Directorate team assigned to the AEF consists of
highly qualified and experienced personnel including thermal,
mechanical, electrical, and aerospace engineers, as well as skilled
technicians. NASA-certified personnel monitor quality control and
operations.
The AEF team has the capability to assist experiments and technology
developers across the entire range of engineering requirements for a
flight experiment or system demonstration. Critical Design
Review level design and structural modeling are available, including
the capability for computer aided design and finite element modeling.
Team members posses a working knowledge of current launch vehicles and
their payload interfaces. Experimenters can be assisted with payload
to launch integration. All aspects of final integration for small
payloads can be accomplished within the AEF, including structural and
electrical build-up, polymerics application, and conformal coating.
Space qualification and environmental testing can be carried out for
any experiment or component. Available testing facilities include a
thermal vacuum chamber to simulate the environment of space and
various vibration tables to simulate the appropriate launch
environment. Environmental, baseline functional, and end-to-end tests
on experiments can also be performed.
Contact Tim Lamkin
for more information.