According to the demands of target characteristics research, a solar simulator with 2.4 m-diameter effective illuminated area was designed. Several targets were required that the illumination of irradiated area was not less than 0.3 solar constant; the collimating angle of outgoing beam was less than ±1°, the un-uniformity of irradiated surface was less than ±3% and the spectral mismatch error reached level C. The solar simulator consisted of four short-arc xenon lamps, four ellipsoidal reflectors, two flat reflectors, a group of optical integrator, and a collimating reflector. Software simulation analysis and experiment test were carried out for the design. Test results show that the diameter of effective illuminated area is 2.43 m, the mean illumination of irradiated area is 3 382 lx, the collimating angle of outgoing beam is ±0.97°, the un-uniformity of irradiated surface is ±2.8% and the spectral mismatch error reaches level C, which meet all the requirements.