Scientists are
regularly preparing instruments for space missions at their cleanroom
laboratories.
Here, “star attraction” on center stage is the preliminary
cleaning of a satellite component.
© Fraunhofer IPA
(August 4, 2015) Components
used on a space mission must be cleaned meticulously. Fraunhofer researchers
designed a cleanroom for the ESA (European Space Agency) in which the most
infinitesimal contaminants can be removed. These experts, together with
partners, are sterilizing ESA’s “ExoMars” Mars rover, scheduled for launch in
2018.
Space missions are inextricably linked to tremendous costs
and great risks. The numerous aborted projects lend proof to this fact. Since
an unmanned space probe, once started, can no longer be repaired, it is
imperative that no part or assembly fail. All the effort would otherwise be for
naught, and scientists would have to wait several years for a replacement
mission. Contaminants play an important role. Because dirt can block
mechanisms, cause a short or disrupt the electronics. Things start getting especially
tricky when a probe is supposed to look for traces of life on a distant planet
− which is precisely the agenda for the “ExoMars” European Mars Mission,
scheduled to launch in 2018. A Mars lander will set down on our neighbor planet
and then launch a rover about the size of a car by automaker smart. To ensure
its sensors operate reliably as they search for signs of life, the mission must
avoid introducing any organic material from earth.
Cleanroom designed
for the ESA
On behalf of the European Space Agency, ESA, the research
team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation
IPA is working assiduously to ensure all components are utterly and perfectly
sterile, removing even nano-sized contaminants. For its design, the scientists
could fall back on the collective expertise at Fraunhofer; indeed, one of the
best-equipped cleanrooms in the world is located at Fraunhofer IPA in
Stuttgart. To ensure they can sterilize the Mars rover reliably, the experts at
ESA drafted the plans for a cleanroom and installed it in the Dutch town of
Noordwijk, at the headquarters for the European Space Research and Technology
Center (ESTEC). The roughly 70 square meter, sterile-controlled area is
sufficient to meet the toughest purity standards, including ISO Class 1. This
means that a cubic meter of air may not contain more than ten particles of 0.1
micrometers in size. The ultrasterile section is about one billion times
cleaner than the air in the surrounding environment.