The ISO Class 5 and ISO Class 6 clean rooms can be sub-divided to allow working areas from 20m². 

These clean rooms can be used by industry and academia for the assembly and integration of space hardware, from payloads (including optical instruments) to small satellites.

The clean rooms are ISO 14644 compliant, meeting most ECSS requirements. They offer Electrostatic Dissipative (ESD) work surfaces along with a testing service to ensure work areas are compliant for ESD sensitive hardware.

​The five clean rooms available are designed with the requirements of optical instrument or payload builds in mind but can also accommodate small satellite build programmes.  

General specifications for the clean rooms

• Each clean room has a floor area of around 85m2
  
• Overhead cranes available in the three ISO5 rooms with a capacity of 1 tonne and a hook height of 3m
  
• No cranes in the two ISO6 rooms
  
• "Dark" clean room available at ISO6 with a predominantly black finish for use for optical alignments Personnel access from single main changing room
• Equipment access through a shared airlock
• Ceiling height 4m
• Entry doors 2m wide and 2.4m tall
• Proximity pass door access control
• Access to dry compressed air
  
• Access to nitrogen for purge purposes from the main liquid nitrogen tank
  
• Oxygen depletion alarms
• Independent and calibrated environmental monitoring system including temperature, humidity, pressure, and airborne particle counts

Additional support services provided

• Clean room apparel and consumables used in the gowning process
• Cleaning materials – pre-saturated wipes or lint free dry wipes and isopropyl alcohol (IPA)
  
• Toolbox and limited toolkit
  
• Training on local gowning processes and general clean room behaviour
  
• Familiarisation on crane operations, for qualified operators
• General logistical support for large delivery movements requiring a forklift
• Access to trollies & pallet trucks
• Support for Health and Safety management through the comprehensive STFC Safety Codes and local advice
• Access to the internet via WiFi or hard-wired connections

Further information

• The clean rooms do not have annexed space for EGSE or support equipment, all items must be contained within the cleanroom itself
• Storage space outside the clean rooms or associated office space is not provided
• The clean rooms have no provision for wet services such as running water or drainage.
  
• No uncured silicone products (tapes, adhesives, etc.) are allowed in the clean rooms as they pose a significant contamination risk to the clean rooms and the projects within them
  

How to access our facilities

As the UK's national space laboratory, we occupy a unique and independent position between industry, academia and government. Our facilities are open to everyone on a commercial basis, whether based in the UK or internationally.

To enquire about use of our clean rooms or test facilities please:

• complete this form
  
• Or contact: RAL Space Enquiries
  

Images:

Image 1 - Light and dark clean rooms in use by engineers. Credit: STFC RAL Space

Image 2 - Dark clean room. Credit: STFC RAL Space​​