Liu Gong, a materials researcher from the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, once experienced a "fatal interruption" during extreme environment testing: "When conducting a 1000-hour aging test on the 2.5m×3m spacecraft panel material at a temperature of 60℃ and under a strong light intensity of 1500W/m², the traditional LED equipment suffered a significant temperature-induced light attenuation of over 15%. The test was forced to be interrupted after 300 hours, resulting in the loss of 2 million R&D costs. Moreover, the LED's ultraviolet energy was insufficient, unable to simulate the strong ultraviolet environment in space, which might affect the safety of the spacecraft in orbit."
The Sevan Aerospace Customized Stable Solar Simulator has brought the "space environment" into the laboratory. The equipment uses an 8-group high-power xenon lamp array and a dual circulating water cooling system, operating stably within a wide temperature range of -40℃ to 60℃. Under a temperature of 60℃, the light intensity drift is ≤±0.8% within 1000 hours, the light spot uniformity is ≤±2.8%, and the temperature difference is controlled within ±1.5℃, precisely replicating extreme conditions such as space and deserts. It covers the entire wavelength range of 300nm-1100nm, with ultraviolet irradiance reaching 500W/m², perfectly meeting the requirements for strong ultraviolet aging tests of spacecraft materials.
"Saifan equipment enables extreme environment tests to be completed in a single run, and the data is directly used in spacecraft design." Engineer Liu particularly praised the customization capability. "The Mars exploration mission requires the 'AM0 + infrared enhancement' spectrum. The Saifan team completed the module development in just 7 days, increasing the irradiance in the 800-1100nm band by 30%, precisely matching the light on the Martian surface, and helping to increase the efficiency of the Mars rover's solar panel by 22%. Compared to the imported equipment with a cost of 15 million and an 8-month delivery period, the Saifan customized version saved 7 million and could be delivered in 60 days, completely breaking the import monopoly."
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