[Chasing Dreams among Stars] Zhang Xuan: Solving the Simulation Problem to Build a "Heart" for Satellites

This familiar music is called "The East is Red", which has the same name as the first artificial satellite launched by China.

Dongfanghong-1 is the first artificial satellite launched by my country. It was successfully launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on April 24, 1970. Fifty-three years later, Zhang Xuan, the general designer of communication satellite energy, played this familiar piece of music again on the violin.

Zhang Xuan is playing the violin piece "The East is Red"

Zhang Xuan is the energy chief designer of the Communications and Navigation Satellite General Department. Her main job is to carry out design, development, verification and research and development work around the energy system of communications satellites.

For satellites, the energy system is their "heart and blood vessels", providing the most critical electrical energy for the satellite, and can be said to be the "source of life" for the satellite. Zhang Xuan's job is to build a "heart" with better performance for the satellite.

"Our aerospace industry is developing at an increasingly rapid pace. We have to constantly update, innovate, and learn about new technologies and apply them to our actual satellite system designs. Only in this way can we keep up with the pace of the world's space industry, including the continuous development of China's aerospace industry. We must put in more effort to do this."

Continuous exploration to solve simulation problems

With the strong support of the department and the laboratory, Zhang Xuan established for the first time a full life cycle energy system simulation and verification system.

At the beginning, Zhang Xuan used tens of thousands of components to build a circuit-level model. After successful debugging, he found that it took several hours to simulate millisecond-level characteristics, which was completely unable to meet the requirements of practical applications.

She researched hundreds of papers and tried more than a dozen methods. On this basis, she combined mathematical simulation and curve verification, and finally found a solution that not only ensured simulation accuracy but also improved simulation speed, finally solving the problem of slow simulation speed.

Today, this system is not only used in the design and development of low-orbit and high-orbit communication satellite platforms, but also in the design of more than 20 communication satellites currently under research.

Through this system, designers can obtain the characteristics of power supply and distribution systems in different environments and configurations through simulation, and on this basis, design the system and optimize key parameters, accelerate system design iterations, and improve the level of design refinement.

Zhang Xuan discusses issues at the meeting

Serving the country through aerospace, pursuing dreams and sharpening youth

When he was a student, Zhang Xuan began to participate in the work of aerospace industry. He worked with electric propulsion through the school platform. In the process of constant contact, he gradually ignited his interest in the aerospace industry. Finally, he chose the career of aerospace engineering and dedicated his youth to the "heart" of the satellite.

From Dongfanghong-1 to Dongfanghong-5, the capacity of the satellite energy system has been greatly improved. Now the capacity of Dongfanghong Satellite-5 has reached 30 kilowatts. The energy power continues to increase, and the functions of the satellite continue to increase.

The Beijing Winter Olympics are broadcast to the world, astronauts communicate with the ground, children in remote mountainous areas watch high-definition programs, and soldiers on the frontier contact their families...all of these make Zhang Xuan feel full of sense of accomplishment and pride.

"I have participated in more than ten launch support missions, but every time I see these satellites successfully launched, I feel very proud and proud. Because every time this happens, with these communication satellites, I think the children at home can also watch high-definition TV programs through our communication satellites, and the soldiers on the border can also use our Tiantong mobile phones to contact their families. I think these are the real conveniences that our communication satellites bring to everyone."

Zhang Xuan is being interviewed

Reaching the moon is the dream of the descendants of Yan and Huang for thousands of years. Zhang Xuan's passion for the aerospace energy industry and his spirit of continuous research have given the satellite the power to fly higher and higher, turning the dream into reality.

Looking up at the stars and keeping their feet on the ground, young astronauts like Zhang Xuan are striving to write a new chapter in the development of the aerospace industry in the new era, allowing the heartbeat of the satellite to echo for a long time in the chest of the motherland and beat powerfully in the vast universe.

Review expert: Zhang Kai, professor at Communication University of China

Producer: Zhan Zhao

Planning: Cai Lin, Lin Jiaxin, Jiao Ziyuan, Song Yajuan

Director: Wang Jiawei (Intern) Jiang Ruiyi (Intern)

Broadcaster/Producer: Liu Zimo