The European Space Agency has opened a space technology facility, including a cleanroom, in Valencia, Spain.
The ESA-Valencia Space Consortium High-Power Space Materials Laboratory is based at the Engineering School of the Burjassot-Partnera campus at the University of Valencia. The 75 m2 facility includes a Class 100,000 cleanroom that will manufacture hardware for space exploration. The cleanroom is specially equipped to investigate how different materials endure the potentially destructive effects of operating powerful radio systems in space.
A multimode X-ray photoelectron spectrometer can determine the surface composition of materials down to the atomic scale, and an evaporator can grow crystalline or metal films for testing coating techniques. The laboratory is also equipped with a vacuum chamber and mass spectrometer to study outgassing under vacuum in order to evaluate the time taken to for devices to reach safe. Other equipment includes an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer used to determine the surface composition of materials down to the atomic scale, and an evaporator that can grow crystalline or metal films for testing coating techniques.
The laboratory is devoted to studying the materials inside spacecraft and satellites with the goal of assuring its optimal functioning under conditions of high power of radio frequency.
Release Date: July 11, 2012
Source: University of Valencia
