PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 21, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- What sounds
like science fiction is now reality for a new Lockheed Martin
(NYSE: LMT) laboratory in Silicon Valley. Technicians from
Denmark installed a new linear
particle accelerator at the company's Advanced Technology Center to
cap a significant expansion in space instrument testing. The
accelerator, one of a few in the world, is part of a collection of
new testing hardware designed to take spacecraft to new levels of
capability and performance.
"Before we send new materials and instruments into orbit, we
must first ensure they will survive the brutal environment of
space," said David Knapp, lead
scientist for SPARC. "So we replicate the space environments in
vacuum chambers here on Earth and analyze the results."
The SPARC encompasses 1,800 square feet and includes new
hardware to test sensitive instruments that range from space-based
imaging and communications satellites to deep space navigation.
The testing machines are extremely precise. For example, 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, and the solar
simulator delivers 2.5 suns worth of light exposure. All the
instruments are precisely positioned to less than 100 microns, many
times smaller than the width of a human hair.
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, liquid and nitrogen cooling. The
facility also incorporates large 5ftx10ft vacuum chambers for
flexible testing.
About Lockheed Martin
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a
global security and aerospace company that employs approximately
97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research,
design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of
advanced technology systems, products and services.
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SOURCE Lockheed Martin