Ushio Halogen Lamps used in test environment for JUICE Satellite project – Mission to Jupiter.
The Liège Space Centre (CSL – Centre Spatial de Liège) in Belgium recently ordered a large volume of Ushio Halogen Lamps in an urgent request for use in a test environment created to simulate temperatures that the JUICE satellite , a project of the European Space Agency, is expected to withstand on its mission to Jupiter in 2022.
The Jupiter Icy moons Explorer (JUICE) is the first large-scale mission in ESA’s cosmic vision 2015-2025 programme and after launch in 2022, is scheduled to arrive on Jupiter in 2029 where it will spend at least three year making detailed observations of the planet and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa.
Superior quality and durability.
Ushio’s halogen lamps were delivered and used in a preliminary fatigue test on flashing mode with a flashing frequency of 0.2 [Hz] over a test duration of 6720 hours after which the lamps were still operable. The lamps were mounted on a rack (168 x 336 lamps) and used to heat test solar panels for the JUICE satellite in a temperature vacuum, reaching temperatures over 160 [°C]. More than 200 test cycles were run covering temperatures from 43 [K] which was achieved using cold gaseous Helium, to 433 [K] which was achieved using the Ushio lamps. The lamps were used intermittently and in testament to the superior quality and durability of Ushio lamps, they were still usable after this period and could have continued further.
“Totally satisfied”
Sylvie Liébecq, Test Engineer at Centre Spatial de Liège said of the lamps, ‘They worked very well and we were totally satisfied’.
For further information regarding Ushio solutions, please contact us info@ushio.eu
Photo: Ushio’s halogen lamp
