All materials are subject to sudden and unexpected impacts at moderate to, under certain conditions, extreme speeds.  For example, more than 100 trillion artificial objects smaller than 1 micron in low and geostationary Earth orbit and thus space assets are subject to the constant threat of space debris impact. These collisions occur at hypervelocity, or speeds greater than 3 kilometer per second. In order to characterize material behavior under this or any impact event, as well as study next generation materials for energy, communication and transportation needs, a novel test facility has been developed.  This design allows for testing of materials with impact speeds varying from 1 meter per second to greater than 3.5 kilometers per second (7800 mph).

This design is novel in two distinct ways: its modularity for multi-purpose testing and combustionless acceleration. The first stage acceleration relies on compressed gas; whereas typical similar facilities utilize less-safe gun powder or explosives.  Second, first stage of the accelerator is on a track sled, and can be pulled back and used individually as a single stage accelerator to study lower speed impacts without any further modifications. Lastly, the first stage can also be used to create shock or blast waves from the compressed gas by placing a diaphragm and stop fitting downrange.  The accelerator is able to investigate 3 orders of magnitude of impact velocities, between 101 to 103 meters per second, as well as shock waves in a single, compact, robust, cost-effective instrument.