Ground Operations and Storage Contamination Control System for Space-Based Optical System

Spacecraft flying optical payloads, and the optical sensors in particular, are exceptionally sensitive to contamination. To minimize such contamination, control measures must be incorporated during system fabrication and carried through testing, integration and storage until the sensor system is deployed. Past measures used to prevent contamination during storage, testing and integration prior to launch, have not always been effective; sometimes leading to costly delays that would effectively cripple access to space if stored assetts were required to be launched on demand. In the proposed Phase I program, it is planned to:1. Determine the initial cleanliness levels needed to meet end-of-life performance requirements on spacecraft based optical sensors.2. Develop innovative concepts for preventing and monitoring particulate and molecular accumulation during all phases of (post fabrication) system groung handling.3. Provide demonstration of prototype prevention/monitoring device operation at surface cleanliness levels better than level 300.4. Develop a preliminary design of a full scale contamination control system.