Lockheed Martin's new particle accelerator aims at space-instrument testing
NewsFebruary 23, 2017
PALO ALTO, Calif. Lockheed Martin has installed a new linear particle accelerator at its Advanced Technology Center laboratory in Silicon Valley, part of the company's expansion into space-instrument testing. Designers and manufacturers of materials and instruments that are to be sent to space must first ensure that the products will survive the temperature extremes, radiation exposure, and need for autonomous operation found there.
Technicians from Denmark installed the accelerator -- one of only a few in the world -- in Lockheed Martin's Space Plasma and Radiation Center (SPARC). The 1,800 square-foot SPARC includes new hardware to test sensitive instruments that range from space-based imaging and communications satellites to deep-space navigation. Equipment in the center includes the particle accelerator, electron accelerator, solar simulators, UV arc lamps, electrostatic discharge equipment, reflectance measurement probes, residual gas analyzer, precision motion stages, plus liquid and nitrogen cooling. The SPARC also incorporates large vacuum chambers to replicate the harsh conditions of space.
The testing machines are extremely precise: The particle accelerator speeds protons to over 12 million miles per hour, or 2 percent the speed of light. The electron accelerator shoots electrons to 66 percent the speed of light, while the solar simulator delivers 2.5 suns worth of light exposure.
