The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program was supported by a unique team of Contamination Control Technicians (CCTs) who received Webb specific training from Webb Contamination Control Engineers (CCEs) and Lead CCTs. Webb’s design featured exposed optics and thermal control surfaces. These remained susceptible to damage or degraded performance from particulate and molecular contamination if a systematic approach to controlling contamination generating processes was not strictly enforced. Cleanroom maintenance is typically performed by janitorial services throughout the industry. However, Webb’s requirements necessitated a team who safely and effectively performed various tasks including daily facility cleaning to flight hardware handling. The CCT team performed daily cleanings of the processing facilities and effortlessly switched to inspecting and cleaning flight hardware, assisting CCEs with inspections, lab work, and performing on-demand cleaning of all items entering the cleanroom facilities. The versatility of the CCT team was on display as each CCT took on additional responsibilities and maintained ownership of subtasks such as Image Analysis and Ellipsometry, transportation, Self-Contained Atmospheric Protection Ensemble (SCAPE) suit support, inventory, and cleanroom garment laundering, while supporting the demanding launch campaign. The CCTs maintained a constant presence on the integration floor, allowing for quick resolution to CC issues and elevation of more serious problems that required further guidance. These dedicated CCTs broke new ground in efficient collaborative work with the integration and testing team while cultivating positive attitudes towards contamination control.
KEYWORDS: James Webb Space Telescope, Contamination, Picture Archiving and Communication System, Rockets, Mirrors, Inspection, Telescopes, Optical fibers, Observatories, Contamination control
Over the life of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Integration & Test (I&T) has taken place in areas that needed considerable work to make the facility itself and/or the protocols used while working in the rooms suitable to meet JWST percent area coverage (PAC) and molecular accumulation requirements. In addition to normal particulate matter, JWST had a uniquely significant challenge: fibers! Fibers not only cause much higher PAC levels, but they also risk damaging the angstrom sized Near Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) microshutter array (MSA), which is critical to NIRSpec instrument performance. The primary emphasis of this paper is to address particulate and fiber contamination. The success of the JWST mission required effective cleanrooms, protocols, and mitigations in non-cleanroom areas that were pressed into service to house contamination-sensitive optics and scientific instruments. Some presented profound challenges. These included: NASA’s 60-year-old Johnson Space Center (JSC) Chamber A, which had never been used for anything contamination-sensitive, and the European tropical launch facilities, which were designed to meet International Standard Organization (ISO) Class 8 processing for communication satellites. The final challenge for JWST, as if to stare us in the face and say, “I dare you to try and make me clean enough,” was preparing the 4 areas in the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) Final Assembly Building (BAF) located in French Guiana, a building in which one entire side opens for Ariane 5 rocket ingress and egress. This paper will describe our initial evaluation processes and the actual work undertaken to transform even the most challenging areas into first class cleanrooms that met JWST particulate and fiber requirements.
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