What should I do if major instruments and equipment cannot be moved into space?
What if researchers can't go to the space station to do experiments?
Can you build a simulated moon on Earth?
A basic scientific research platform for real cosmic space such as Mars?
Today, these questions are answered at Harbin Institute of Technology.
On February 27, the first major national scientific and technological infrastructure in China's aerospace field, "Space Environment Ground Simulation Device" (also known as "Ground Space Station"), built by Harbin Institute of Technology and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, officially passed the national acceptance. The overall construction indicators of the project are at the international advanced level, and some key technical indicators are at the international leading level.
Relying on the space station and the 'ground space station' operating in orbit, a space-ground integrated space environment and material interaction research system can be built to provide guarantee for space development and space exploration. Li Liyi, executive deputy chief designer and executive deputy commander of the device, and dean of the Institute of Space Environment and Physical Science of Harbin Institute of Technology, said.
From scratch, the "ground space station" has been sharpening a sword for 18 years.
It took 18 years from a barren farmland and fish pond to a "ground space station" that rose from the ground.
The first time I came here, I couldn't find a place, it was desolate and muddy, and I couldn't get my feet. As the person in charge of the construction of the device, Wang Chen, director of the office of the Harbin Institute of Technology, has witnessed the construction of the "ground space station" from scratch, "Every time I look through the previous **, I think back to those days when I see a wasteland turned into a modern park, and I always feel very emotional and a sense of accomplishment." ”
According to reports, from the beginning of 2005 to the formation of a team for research and analysis to the approval of the National Development and Reform Commission in 2015, from the start of construction in 2017 to the special acceptance of the process system in 2023, the team has increased from more than a dozen people at the beginning of the preparation to more than 100 people, covering physics, materials, electromechanical, electrical, chemical, aerospace, life and other disciplines.
Liu Jianli, director of the Particle Accelerator Technology Research Office, has been involved in the demonstration and construction of the device since 2011, saying: "The large-scale accelerator device is an important basic research platform, which is large in scale and complex in technology, and the construction process is difficult. The team needs to start from scratch, design, processing, installation, commissioning and operation, data analysis, and invest 120% energy in each link. ”
In order to make the experimental data more accurate, researchers have long insisted on doing experiments in the early hours of the morning. "In order to measure the most ideal indicators, we have been 'isolated' in a near-zero magnetic environment for five or six hours a day for a month, sometimes even through the night, but everyone has enjoyed it and has no regrets. Pan Donghua, chief designer of the space magnetic environment simulation and research system, said.
Space experiments will never again be "difficult to climb to the sky".
The "ground space station" is composed of eight systems, including space comprehensive environment simulation, space magnetic environment simulation, and space plasma environment simulation. The installation focuses on major basic scientific issues in the field of aerospace, provides a world-leading research platform for the safe service of China's spacecraft in orbit and the long-term space residence of astronauts, and serves the development and ...... of China's manned spaceflight, space station construction, deep space exploration and commercial spaceflight
During the construction process, the team adhered to independent innovation, broke through a series of key technologies, undertook more than 200 scientific research projects, published nearly 400 academic articles, authorized more than 200 invention patents, and all systems have been put into trial operation and open sharing, serving many user units at home and abroad, supporting the research and development of a variety of aerospace electronic components in China and the implementation of a series of major national space missions, and achieved a number of landmark results.
With the "ground space station", scientists can complete experiments that used to be done in space at the "doorstep". In the future, astronauts will also be able to experience and adapt to the surface environment of planets such as the Moon and Mars.
Since we have chosen, we must strive to do a good job and make results, which is the belief we have always adhered to. Zhao Yu, the chief designer of the micro-mechanism analysis subsystem, said that he joined the team at the beginning of the project approval, and along the way, he learned and did, not only playing an important role in the construction of the device and the preparation of the national platform, but also participating in a number of national tasks based on the device, "I hope that the next step can be good to use the device, focus on space science and aerospace to make more cutting-edge achievements, so that the platform can play a greater role."
Nowadays, the "ground space station" not only drives scientific and technological exchanges, but also brings together a group of high-end talents like a huge magnetic field, some of them have returned from overseas, some have gone north from the south, and some have graduated and stayed in school.
*: Harbin News Network.
Reporter: Wang Tiejun
Editor: Liang Jingjing.