Cheshire based cleanroom supplier, Clean Environments, a division of Moorfield Nanotechnology, was approached by Airbus Defense and Space, to design and develop an ISO 5 cleanroom. The sensitive instruments that go onto the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter satellite needed ISO 5 for particulate as well as protection from molecular, electromagnetic and magnetic contamination.
Clean Environments designed and supplied a Clean Cube to sit in Airbus' ISO 8 facility. Due to time restrictions Clean Environments built the frame as a complete unit that could be lifted into position, fitting the glass infill panels and electrics, once the Clean Cube was in position. The European Space Agency funded the project.
The customised ISO 5 Clean Cube cleanroom is a special contamination control environment, required for the critical assembly, integration and testing of the satellite.
A key feature of the clean environment was that it be portable so other ESA partners could benefit from the initial investment by the space agency.
The Solar Orbiter Clean Cube was designed to be supplied as a complete shell that could arrive at the Airbus' ISO 8 cleanroom and be assembled within a day. A small team then populated the Clean Cube putting in the ceiling grid, glazing the wall panels and beginning the cleanup.
The Clean Cube was ready for evaluation within 10 days of arriving on site, successfully removing incident outgas and electrostatic.
Solar Orbiter is set to launch in February 2019, through a NASA supplied Atlas V rocket and its mission is to study the sun’s heliosphere and observe it in previously unprecedented detail to uncover its inner workings and unmask the secrets of the solar wind.
The rocket will approach the sun to within 42 million km. And from this vantage point it will be positioned to observe the sun at a resolution never before observed of 70 km/pixel and analyse its heliosphere in fine detail.
The main aim of the measurements will be to identify the underlying processes driving the solar wind, streams of particles continuously escaping the sun. The measurements will combine the immediate in situ environment and remote sensing observations.
Lester Waugh, Engineering Manager at Airbus in Stevenage, commented: “We have instruments that are highly sensitive to contamination, which could affect their capabilities and performance in space.
“The Clean Cube was selected as it provides the high levels of cleanliness required and its flexible design allows it to be re-sited for future programmes, as required,” he said.
