urn:nasa:pds:context:facility:laboratory.arc-cosmic 1.0 1.24.0.0 Product_Context 2026-04-13 1.0 Initial version. urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:individual.lab_atm-opt-const-titan facility_to_investigation NASA Ames - COsmic SImulation Chamber (COSmIC) Laboratory The Cosmic Simulation Chamber Simulation Chamber (COSmIC) was developed to generate, process and analyze interstellar, circumstellar, and (exo)planetary analogs in the laboratory. COSmIC is dedicated to the study of neutral/ionized molecules, and nanoparticles/grains under temperature and vacuum conditions that are representative of astrophysical environments. It consists of a pulsed discharge nozzle (PDN) mounted on a vacuum chamber and coupled to a cavity ringdown spectrometer (CRDS) and a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) for gas phase analysis. The PDN is used to generate a free supersonic expansion by injecting a gas mixture into the vacuum chamber through a very thin slit (127 µm × 10 cm). The expansion lowers the gas temperature (50–150 K) and the pressure (0.1–30 mbar). A cold plasma discharge (1–2 eV energy) can be generated in the stream of the expansion by applying a high voltage (600–1000 V) onto electrodes placed along the slit. This plasma discharge then generates cold isolated neutral, ions, radicals in the gas phase, as well as solid particles in a setting that realistically simulates astrophysical and (exo)planetary environments. Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy (CRDS) is an ultrasensitive direct absorption technique based on the measurement of the lifetime of probe photons trapped into an optical cavity formed by two high reflectivity (>99.99%) mirrors facing each other. Mass spectrometry is another in situ, non-intrusive technique that allows monitoring in real time the neutral and ionized (positive and negative) species produced in the plasma expansion in COSmIC. The solid phase products are in the form of grains, 50-500 nm in diameter, formed in the volume of the plasma. Solid samples can be collected by jet deposition onto various substrates, then collected under inert atmosphere in a glovebox connected to the chamber, before further ex-situ characterization. COSmIC is located at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.