April 23rd, 2014
The Gemini target chamber and laser alignment within the chamber.
The chamber itself is a very robust steel box, easily big enough to climb inside. During firing the air is pumped out using very powerful vacuum pumps which produce a very high level of vacuum, i.e. there are very few air molecules left inside. The laser you can see in the other photo is used for alignment and is not high power, this is necessary as you can’t be in the room when the full power, infra red laser is firing.
The room itself is very impressive, it has very thick concrete walls and lead shielding, with a huge steel and lead door that slides across the entrance when firing. All of this is to stop radiation escaping.
More on all of this soon…