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Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics

LEIL

The LEIL chamber allows for dust impact experiments. (Courtesy CCLDAS)

The CCLDAS Lunar Environment Impact Laboratory (LEIL) is a 1.2 m-diameter, 1.5 m-length chamber designed to support a wide variety of experiments on dusty plasmas and impact physics.

LEIL is capable of supporting high-intensity UV lamps suitable for photoionization. It contains a solar wind simulator, a realistic regolith base plane, and various diagnostic instruments, which allow for comprehensive simulation of the lunar surface dusty plasma environment. A second, smaller, UHV chamber is under development for more detailed measurements of micrometeor impacts and solar wind sputtering.