Contamination control is often a requirement for aerospace systems.

One of the mantras from my hardware engineering days was to “test to the requirements.”  That is, make sure the acceptance or performance tests you run actually reflect the values your system parameters must achieve.  For example, although the pointing stability of a camera may be important, if it’s really image quality that’s important, then test your image quality.  Along those same lines, if contamination control for spacecraft is your concern, then you want to measure the actual contamination effects of the materials you use.  You can get an idea of the issues buy looking at a NASA document on hardware cleanliness, which includes the use of an ultrasonic parts cleaner.

For further information visit ntrs.nasa.gov.

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