Santa Clarita, CA
20970 Centre Pointe Parkway
Santa Clarita, CA 91350
T: 661.259.8184 | F: 661.254.4814
Douglas Stewart - General Manager
NTS Santa Clarita: The Proving Ground for the World’s Most Complex Testing Programs
The Santa Clarita location is one of the largest test facilities in the U.S., spanning more than 150 acres. From small component level testing to massive complex system simulation, NTS Santa Clarita is able to meet the most extreme testing challenges for military, aerospace, space, and commercial programs. As a result, NTS is the world’s most trusted partner for streamlining testing, verification, and evaluation processes to reduce cycle time and bring products to market faster.
A Legacy of Space and Military Innovation
The engineers at the Santa Clarita facility have worked on the world’s most complex space and military programs for decades, including:
- Space Shuttle
- MX Peacekeeper
- International Space Station
- THAAD
- EELV
- Mars Rover
With a history of innovation, NTS Santa Clarita just added millions of dollars in new equipment in 2020, which includes a new T4000 dual shaker system. Regardless of what you need, the experts at the Santa Clarita lab are ready to help you with your most complex testing challenges.
Dynamics in Southern California
The Santa Clarita laboratory is home to more than a dozen electrodynamic and hydraulic shaker systems with ratings of up to 80,000 force pounds. With digital control systems and multiple channel instrumentation, engineers can simulate random, sinusoidal, SOR, and other vibration environments. The dynamics setup at the lab includes the following:
- Classical Shock (Half-Sine, Terminal Peak Sawtooth, Trapezoidal)
- Shock Response Spectrum (SRS) 10-20kHz
- 15-Ton Crane Serving 2 Ling 340 Shakers
- 80,000 Force Lbs Dual Shaker Mode
- 4 to 3,000 Hertz
- Class 100K (ISO Class 8) Clean Room
- M+P and Vibration Research Closed Loop Control Systems
- 100+ Instrumentation Channels (Accelerometers, Force Sensors, Strain Gages)
- 12+ Vibration Exciters from 6,000 to 45,000 Force Lbs
- Random, Swept Sine, Sine-on-Random, and Random-on-Random
- High Velocity Servo Hydraulic System with 9 Inch Stroke
- 10,000 Force Lbs DC to 500 Hertz
- Combined Thermal and Vibration Testing
- Cryogenic Testing
- Slosh and Vibration Table with 2,000 Lbs Payload
- Acceleration Up to 400 Gs from 2, 10, and 25 Foot Radius with 200 Channels of Slip Rings
- Centrifuge Load Capacity to 5,000 Lbs
Pyroshock Simulation
- Classical Shock Haversine
- Shock Response Spectrum (SRS) 10-20kHz
- Resonant Beam
- True Ordnance
- Metal to Metal Impact
- Free Fall and High Velocity Drop Towers
- Shock: Classical Half Sine, Trapezoidal, Haversine, and TP Sawtooth.
- Pyroshock: Shaker Simulated, Metal to Metal Impact and True Ordnance
- Mechanically Induced Pyroshock Simulator (MIPS)
- NEW Spacecraft MIPS:
- 4’x4′ Standard Horizontal Shelf (Can Also Support Custom Shelf Sizes)
- 24″ Diameter Separation Ring Standard Mounting (Can Also Support Custom Part Patterns and Mounting)
- Supports >1,000 Pound Payloads
- Excites Three Axes Simultaneously without Rotating Part
- 8-Ton 3 Axis Overhead Crane
- 16’x16′ Staging Area in Front of Setup
- Adjacent to Acoustic and Vibration Cleanrooms
- Temperature and Humidity Control
- ISO 8 Cleanroom (Cleanroom Tents Available for Cleaner Applications)
- Capable of Achieving Most Common Payload Launch and Rideshare Shock Levels (SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Relativity Space, International Launch Services, Firefly Aerospace, etc.)
Acoustic Testing in Santa Clarita
The Santa Clarita lab houses four reverberation chambers and four progressive wave tubes. As a result, the acoustic test environment at the lab encompasses the the following:
- 5,000 Cubic Foot Reverberation Chamber
- 1,400 Square Foot High Bay
- Class 100K (ISO Class 8) Clean Room
- Emission Measurements and High-Level Noise
- Reverberant Sound Levels to 167 dB
- Progressive Wave Tube to 174+ dB
- M+P and PAK Closed Loop Control Systems and 100+ Instrumentation Channels
- Microphones, Accelerometers, Force Sensors, Strain Gages, Etc
Fuel Icing, Fuel Contamination, and Gas Systems
A stand-alone, water-in-fuel, fuel icing test stand is equipped to perform testing in accordance with SAE ARP 1401 and MIL-F-8615D on aerospace fuel system components, systems, and subsystems. This setup can work with a neighboring test stand designed to run contaminated fuel testing in accordance with MIL-F-8615D and SAE ARP 8615. In addition, the lab provides fuel component testing to develop and qualify fuel line parts and subsystems in support of aerospace and military partners to critical parts qualification requirements, including RTCA DO-160 and MIL-STD-810. In fact, NTS Santa Clarita is the only test lab in Southern California to conduct fuel icing testing in strict accordance with MIL-F-8615D and SAE-ARP 1401—and to provide NAS Class V fuel cleanliness.
In addition, the team at Santa Clarita has a thorough understanding of your mechanical, fluid and gas testing needs, providing:
- Pressure, Temperature, and Flow Capabilities for Environments with Gas and Liquids
- Media Testing (Air, Water, Seawater, Oils, Fuels, Solvents, Cryogenic Liquids, Etc.
- Computer-Based Data Acquisition and Control Systems
Extreme Environmental Testing and Space Simulation
The Santa Clarita lab’s climatic and space simulation services covers demanding test requirements with combined environments of temperature, altitude, and humidity from -70°F to +350°F in chambers up to 28′ x 16′ x 15′. Thermal vacuum chambers to 10 feet in diameter can handle temperature extremes from -320°F to 1,000°F with combined ambient pressures of 1 x 10 -8 TORR. Salt fog, sulfur dioxide (SO2), and chopper chloride chambers are sized up to 6′ x 10’ x 8′. The sand and dust chamber, on the other hand, provides wind velocities to 4,400 FPM for sand and dust erosion testing. Finally, explosive atmosphere chambers can simulate conditions at 100,000 feet and temperatures to -320°F. Key environmental and space testing capacity at the Santa Clarita lab include the following:
- 1,500 Cubic Foot Thermal Vacuum Chamber (10′ Diameter by 12′ Long)
- Several Temperature/Humidity Chambers from 2′ x 2′ x 2′ to 25′ x 25′ x 15’
- Combined Environmental Temperature and Vibration Facilities
- Temperature/Altitude Chamber up to 900 Cubic Feet
- Large Drive-In Temperature/Humidity Chambers
- Temperature Chambers Up to 40′ x 60′ x 15’
- Explosive Atmosphere Chamber (6′ Diameter by 20′ Long)
- Rapid and Explosive Decompression: 10 to .01 Mil/Sec
- Sand and Dust, Salt Fog, and SO2 Chambers Up to 10′ x 10′ x 8′
- Hail Strike: 800 Ft/Sec and Wind-Driven Rain Up to 70 MPH.
- 10′ x 10′ Solar Radiation Heating Effects
Pneumatic, Hydraulic, Mechanical, and Cryogenic Testing
At NTS Santa Clarita, you will find one of the world’s most comprehensive pneumatics testing facilities. In addition, our engineers are highly skilled at providing you with all of the hydraulics, mechanical, and hazardous flow testing you need to ensure the safe operation of your systems and components—especially those of a mission-critical nature that are required to perform in challenging circumstances. Key pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical, and cryogenics capabilities at the lab include the following:
- Three Test Legs Up to 600–900 GPM
- -70°F to 135°F Fuel Temperature and Fuel Polishing Capability to NAS Class III
- State-of-the-art DAC System to 100 Channels
- Fuel Icing Pad Containing Three Legs with a Flow of 300 GPM
- Karl Fischer Titration to Verify Water Content
- Airslab with Multiple Test Bays to 350 Lbs at 300 PSI Flow
- Three 3.9 Million BTU Heaters (1,500°F at Heater Outlet and 1,200°F at UUT)
- 6,000 Psig Gaseous Nitrogen and Helium at High Flows with Helium Recovery System to Reduce Costs
- Multiple Skydrol Mules for Pressure to 10,000 PSI and 40 GPM
- High Flow Water Testing Up to 3,000 GPM at Ambient Conditions
Plus, the team can build complex custom fuel test setups, which can range from 1 to 100+ GPM with high aromatic contents (e.g. toluene) and a mix of air and fuel (such as air/fuel heat exchangers and fuel/hydraulically actuated air flow valves). In addition, the engineers at the lab can design complex multi-system tests, including low and/or pressure testing at temperature to include ramp rates of 5°C/min while unit is undergoing vibration or environmental testing.
A Higher Standard for Hypersonic Testing
At the Santa Clarita laboratory, a team of engineers developed a novel solution for aerodynamic heating to simulate hypersonic flight. Click on the button below and explore the scope of our hypersonic testing capabilities.
Take an Aerial Tour of the Lab
Take a moment to take a tour of our revamped lab—from the air.