ABSORBING STUFF

This is the doorway to serenity. The European Space Agency’s Hybrid European Radio Frequency and Antenna Test Zone – known as the Hertz chamber – is located at its Netherlands base. The chamber recreates the silence of space to test the next generation of space antennae.

Radio waves from TV and radio broadcasts, aircraft and ship radar and mobile phones can penetrate most things. They are kept out of the chamber by its metal walls, which form a “Faraday cage”, and a lining of radio-wave-absorbing and echo-proof, or “anechoic”, foam pyramids. This allows technicians to conduct tests involving a wide range of radio frequencies free from external interference.

The photograph was taken by Portuguese-born Edgar Martins, who is collaborating with the ESA to produce a comprehensive photographic survey of its facilities around the globe.