Post 4 - Marie Marchant






               At our second trip to JPL we were lucky enough to see where a lot of the magic of making space craft takes place. We got a debriefing from Natalie, the lead construction engineer for EDL or entry, decent and landing. There are two clean rooms at JPL, and in the one we observed they were working on Mars 2020. They are currently working on the cruise stage of the space craft. 

             This stage weighs about 350 pounds, has 8 thrusters, 2 tanks of fuel, 1 star scanner for navigation and sun sensors. The rover itself will weigh about 3,000 pounds, similar to the size of a small SUV. The space craft will eventually be moved to florida in 2019 for final touches. 

             Clean rooms like this one at JPL are key to a successful mission. If a speck of dust or skin cells got in the room it could ruin the whole mission. Natalie told us that they typically look for spores, and only a certain amount are allowed on the space craft. Every worker has to wear a bunny suit, head to toe. But first, they have to go into a shoe cleaner to remove any loose particles. Then an air shower that blows any contaminants off. Then they enter a dressing room with a sticky matt to get at those shoes one more time. And finally, they put on their bunny suit, with only their eyes exposed. 

            Since clean room employees can’t see physical particles they rely on highly sensitive particle counters that give a constant readout to maintain an acceptable cleanliness level. They even have petri dishes that collect contaminants from the airflow, which are then viewed under a microscope to determine the amount and characteristics of the particles.

             The clean room is constantly being wiped down. Some of the other things they do to keep it clean are using a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and de-ionized water to scrub the floors, as well as use high efficiency particulate arresting (HEPA) filter vacuums. In order to assure that dirty air doesn't enter the cleanroom when external doors are opened, a positive airflow is continuously in effect that pushes on the external air so it cannot enter. When moving space craft engineers have to use special sheet metal to cover the space craft. They also have to use a plastic covering called amerstat and fill it with nitrogen clean air. 

             The cleanliness of the room where the spacecraft are built is one of the most fundamental and, perhaps, most overlooked pieces of the overall picture of what is required to ensure that the spacecraft can perform its mission when it arrives at its destination. I found this portion of our NASA visit incredibly fascinating. The amount of attention to detail is incredible and no mistakes can be made or else it can jeopardize the entire mission. 

            I want to thank Natalie for giving us a tour of the clean room and a little bit more insight on what goes on in this magical room. 

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