Session
Weekend Poster Session 1
Location
Utah State University, Logan, UT
Abstract
As space missions become more accessible to student teams through the spread of the CubeSat standard, there is an obvious desire for inexpensive clean spaces for satellite assembly. However, commercially available cleanrooms are costly and may not fit in limited spaces. We present our results and processes from the design, construction and testing of a low-cost cleanroom made of materials readily available at hardware stores.
Our cleanroom was designed to meet ISO 8 or better standards, based on results from previous work by other groups (Johnstone et al., 2007)1 and requirements for our CubeSat missions. Overall, $2,733.51 CAD was invested into the materials for the cleanroom. The cost was reasonable for the budget of a typical university student group developing critical CubeSat infrastructure.
Particle count testing was conducted using a PurpleAir PA-II air quality sensor for continuous monitoring of the cleanroom performance. Particle counts recorded over three months suggest that the cleanroom can meet ISO 8 requirements and further operate under ISO 7 cleanroom conditions2 most of the time. Particle counts occasionally spiked above the ISO 7 threshold for periods of up to three hours.
Design and Assembly of an Inexpensive Cleanroom for CubeSat Teams
Utah State University, Logan, UT
As space missions become more accessible to student teams through the spread of the CubeSat standard, there is an obvious desire for inexpensive clean spaces for satellite assembly. However, commercially available cleanrooms are costly and may not fit in limited spaces. We present our results and processes from the design, construction and testing of a low-cost cleanroom made of materials readily available at hardware stores.
Our cleanroom was designed to meet ISO 8 or better standards, based on results from previous work by other groups (Johnstone et al., 2007)1 and requirements for our CubeSat missions. Overall, $2,733.51 CAD was invested into the materials for the cleanroom. The cost was reasonable for the budget of a typical university student group developing critical CubeSat infrastructure.
Particle count testing was conducted using a PurpleAir PA-II air quality sensor for continuous monitoring of the cleanroom performance. Particle counts recorded over three months suggest that the cleanroom can meet ISO 8 requirements and further operate under ISO 7 cleanroom conditions2 most of the time. Particle counts occasionally spiked above the ISO 7 threshold for periods of up to three hours.
