Gary Sullivan demonstrated the use of a vacuum dry box and safety equipment in this April 1963 photo. The box provided an inert, or controlled atmosphere, for handling sensitive materials such as cesium during tests of components and materials for ion motor propellant feed systems. It had internal electrical power and lighting, as well as argon gas and vacuum lines. Thick Plexiglas implosion shields usually found on the view ports were removed for this photo.
The vacuum dry box was just one piece of equipment in the Thrust Devices Laboratory in JPL's building 125-B7. This lab went into operation in June 1962 and was used by the Advanced Propulsion Engineering Section in research relating to nuclear-electric propulsion systems development.
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