All-Axis Light Gas Gun

Hypervelocity Impact Testing

The All-Axis Light Gas Gun (AALGG) at the Open University simulates the extreme shock temperatures and pressures experienced during hypervelocity impact processing, vertically and horizontally and any angle in between.

Dr Zoe Emerland rotating the AALGG between horizontal and vertical orientation to demonstrate vertical momentum transfer experiments in preparation for missions DART and HERA

Facility Description

The All-Axis Light Gas Gun is a two-stage light gas gun, capable of firing 50 μm - 4 mm projectiles (spheres, cylinders or buckshot powders) at velocities up to ~6.0 km/s. Its unique capability of rotating between horizontal and vertical allows for the flexible option of two different target chambers.

The small target chamber can accommodate targets up to ~19 cm in radial diameter, for impacts horizontally, vertically, and intermediate angles by tilting the target.
The larger target chamber, for vertical firing only, can accommodate targets up to ~80 cm in diameter, along with supporting fixtures and equipment, ideal for testing whole systems or spacecraft assembly.

Instrumentation includes:

Projectile time of flight systems for velocity measurement

High Speed Camera frames showing a projectile impacting a surface and generating an ejecta cloud out of the back of the target — High Speed Camera frames of a 2 mm stainless steel projectile impacting a target at 3.5 km/s

High-speed cameras (Photron & Phantom) for recording projectile flight or impact processing
CAVILUX HF 640 Laser system for optimising schlieren and shadowgraphy and imaging impact flashes
High-speed pyrometer.
Head-space gas sampling.
Portholes for target viewing.
Feedthroughs for target cryogenic cooling, heating, electronic connections (e.g., BNC and DB), and any others desirable by the client.

The gun range is pumped down to ~0.2 mbar prior to firing to achieve the highest velocities, although firing at higher atmospheric pressures is possible.

The number of shots we can complete in one working day (and therefore the cost of using the instrument) will vary depending on the velocity, inclination of firing, projectile size and composition, specific firing conditions, misfires, pre- and post-firing cleaning and target preparation and processing.

If you have any queries about costings, testing conditions or capabilities, do not hesitate to Contact us!

Specification summary

Projectile Diameter	50 µm - 4 mm
Projectile Velocity	300 m/s - 6 km/s
Target Diameter	up to ~80 cm

Potential uses and applications of our powerful tool include:

Testing spacecraft, satellite and aerospace components and payload qualification - assessing vulnerabilities, durability and functionality
Whipple shield testing
Impact sensor detection and analysis
Projectile survival, deformation and recovery
Space debris ejecta generation

Impact cratering research - ground truthing and validation of numerical hydrocode models, fieldwork and remote sensing observations
Investigating planetary compositions - how can impacts inform about the composition and structure of a planetary surface and subsurfaces, and layering?
Chemical and physical modification of planetary surfaces from shock processing - using real or analogue materials
Regolith generation and ejection & space weathering - vertical impacts into loosely consolidated regolith-like materials
Meteorite studies - shock processing validation
Icy moon studies - investigate how impacts vary on icy surfaces, such as the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn.

Momentum transfer studies for asteroid re-direction - for missions such as DART and HERA

Lithopanspermia - investigate how biosignatures can be transported between planetary bodies, e.g., Earth to the Moon; Mars to Phobos; Earth to Mars etc.
Generation of conditions conducive to the development of life
Modification of biosignatures by shock processing

Thermal & structural responses to extreme stress - impact-induced phase transitions and fracture mechanics - ices, glasses, metals, composites, layered materials, liquids, gels, natural and synthetic fibres - you name it, we can probably test it!
Armour, shielding and penetration testing
Spallation studies
Product development - design of new materials for extreme environments
Shock wave propogation
Equation of state studies

Impacts of asteroids, comets or space debris into Earth
Nuclear waste storage safety - test resilience of storage containers.

Prof. Manish Patel, Dr Matthew Sylvest and Dr Zoe Emerland discussing experiments by the AALGG small chamber

Contact

If you are interested in conducting experiments with us, please see our Client Project Process for more information.

For all enquiries please Contact us!

Recent Projects

2025

Student Finlay Price positioning his target within the AALGG small chamber

Cranfield University MEng student Chandrajith - aims to develop a test plan, including a hypervelocity impact campaign, for vibroacoustic sensors integrated into representative avionics with spacecraft representative plates for MMOD research.

Cranfield University MEng student Santiago - After conducting UV, low temperature and vacuum exposure experiments within the Baldrick Chamber of different spacecraft materials to simulate conditions representative of the Deep Space Gateway, will investigate the material degradation and changes in reisilience against hypervelocity impact damage using the All-Axis Light Gas Gun.

Student Kayleigh Moore standing in front of the All-Axis Light Gas Gun holding up one of her composite shield targets following a hypervelocity impact test. — Student Kayleigh Moore holding a composite shield target post-hypervelocity impact test.

University of Edinburgh PhD student Kayleigh Moore - Horizontal hypervelocity impact tests of impedence-graded composite shields with 1-2 mm stainless steel projectiles at ~5 km/s to validate her numerical simulations of shields to protect spacecraft from MMOD impacts.

University of Sheffield MEng student Finlay Price - Hypervelocity impact tests of new 3D printed whipple sheilds with 1 mm stainless steel projectiles at ~5.3 km/s at 90 and 45 degree angles.

ODIN Space Service contract - vertical hypervelocity space debris impact tests of their next generation of impact sesnors to fine tune their technology to detect and measure the size, speed and trajectory of space debris as small as 0.1 mm in LEO and GEO.

2024

Image showing the surface of ice after impact by buckshot dust projectiles. Circles highlight impact points. — Grace Richards' Enceladus-like ice target post-impact with highlighted impact sites.

Open University PhD student Amy Dugdale - Amy conducted vertical hypervelocity impact experiments investigating the Impact Modification of Minerals and Biomarkers at Oxia Planum, Mars, using a bespoke Oxia Planum simulant design SOPHIA.

Open University PhD student Grace Richards - Grace conducted horizontal hypervelocity impact experiments investigating the composition of volatiles released from Enceladus-like ice targets during buckshot E-ring grain impact processes, measuring the headspace of the target chamber using Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry. See their thesis for further information - The feasibility of in situ volatile analysis to investigate space weathering on Enceladus’ surface

2023

Left omage of Phobos regolith simulant post-impact showing a large single crater. Right image of cylindrical Mars-like projectile including biosignatures. — Left: Phobos regolith simulant post-impact showing a large single crater. Right: Cylindrical Mars-like projectile including biosignatures.

Open University PhD student Zoe Emerland - Zoe investigated the survival of biosingatures being impact-transported from Mars to its moon Phobos by conducting vertical impact experiments firing bespoke Mars-like projectiles, including biosignatures, into a Phobos regolith simulant. See their thesis for further information An Experimental and Numerical Assessment of Ejected Martian Biosignatures Impacting Phobos

Comet Interceptor - DISC functionality tests - Comet Interceptor, the European Space Agency mission, will conduct fast flybys through a comet coma and endure hypervelocity impacts with dust particles. Using the All-Axis Light Gas Gun the mission team tested the dust shield of the Dust Impact Sensor and Counter instrument (DISC) with mm-sized projectiles at ~5km/s. Check out their recent publications for more information:

Image showing multiple DISC targets post-impact with aerogel — Fig.5 from Della Corte et al. 2025: DISC breadboard #1 after the impact of (in order): a 1 mm stainless steel sphere at 4.5 km/s (sensing plate (a), aerogel blocks (b), dust shield frame (c)); fragments of a 3 mm nylon sphere at 6 km/s (sensing plate (d), aerogel (e)); a 3 mm nylon sphere at 5.5 km/s (sensing plate (f), aerogel (g), dust shield frame (h)).

2019

ESA Sterilization limits (SterLim) for sample return planetary protection measures study - Evaulated the probability of collecting unsterilized martian material from the surface of Phobos with a sample return mission (Martian Moons eXploration), that had been impact-transported from Mars to Phobos. They conducted vertical impact experiments with basaltic core projectiles (representing Mars) into a Phobos regolith simulant. See their paper for further information - Patel et al., 2019 "The transfer of unsterilized material from Mars to Phobos: Laboratory tests, modelling and statistical evaluation". See also right video above for one of their impact experiments.