The University of Arizona marked the completion of construction and opening of the $85M Applied Research Building (ARB), an advanced research facility that advances the University’s reputation as a leader in space research. SmithGroup designed the Tucson project, McCarthy built the 89,000 square-foot ARB. It’s the first building in the country to house all research spaces related to the fabrication and testing of satellites in one integrated facility. 

The new building offers a range of facilities to enable advanced research, including the largest thermal vacuum chamber of any university in the world, which simulates environmental space conditions to test balloon and satellite performance; high bay payload assembly areas used for constructing high-altitude stratospheric balloons and nanosatellites, also known as “CubeSats”; a non-reflective, echo-free room called an anechoic chamber to test antennae for command, control and data relay purposes; and a large, dynamic testing lab for testing the performance of a range of objects, from airplane wings to sensors.