The engineering division of LASP is housed in the LASP Space Technology Building (LSTB). With the recent addition of a 45,000 sq. ft. building in November 2005, LASP's LSTB facility now has over 100,000 sq. ft. of offices, labs, machine shops, and clean rooms dedicated to engineering and analysis. LASP’s Engineering Division uses computer-aided design and engineering tools typically found at large aerospace companies.

LASP has a highly dedicated team of approximately 100 professional mechanical/electrical engineers and students. Much of the character of the LASP laboratory reflects NASA’s early methods of in-house, hands-on hardware development. LASP’s instruments and components are manufactured, assembled, tested, and calibrated on site in the Space Technology Building’s extensive, dedicated facilities.

The department uses major computer-aided design tools like SolidWorks for design. PDMWorks and Agile are used for managing drawings and product specifications. Microsoft Project is used to generate schedules and maintain status. Telelogic’s DOORS software is used to track requirements. A wide variety of computer-aided engineering tools are used for modeling and analyzing mechanical, electrical, and thermal performance. Even the tools used to create our science instruments are now computerized: LASP has two large numerical control machine tools for producing instrument casings and other components with extreme accuracy. Much of the test equipment used by our engineers is computerized and monitored and controlled online. The scientific instruments that we create are all controlled by software and firmware developed by LASP engineers and programmers and their code is carefully designed and thoroughly tested to assure ultra-high reliability in a demanding real-time operating environment.

LASP's new 2 story high-bay clean room

With LASP's recent building addition, came a 2 story, 2000 sq. ft., class 10000 clean room suitable for building spacecraft. LASP also has three other designated clean rooms. Two are 500 square foot clean rooms with an air cleanliness level of class 10000. The third is a 400 square foot, class 10000 fully equipped detector development lab.  All clean rooms are equipped with certified class 100 laminar flow assembly benches, are ESD compatible, and humidity and temperature controlled. One of the clean rooms is equipped with two vacuum thin film deposition chambers for use in this program. Read how clean rooms are rated.

1. MOBI:

   Chamber: 60” diameter x 72” length chamber (our largest facility) Pump: 22” cryogenic pump capable of 10-6 torr used for environmental testing Thermal Capabilities: Thermal shroud and thermal platen Temperature Range: -70°C to +80°C Use: Environmental testing

   MOBI

2. Two Bemco's (East and West)

   Chamber: 30” diameter x 60” chambers length Pump: 8” cryogenic pump capable of 10-8 torr Thermal Capabilities: Thermal platen Temperature Range: -70°C to +80°C Use: Environmental testing

   West Bemco

3. CTE2:

   Chamber: 30” diameter x 60” length chamber Pump: 8” cryogenic pump capable of 10-8 torr equipped with a vacuum monochromator Thermal Capabilities: Thermal Detector Plate Temperature Range: -70°C to +90°C Use: Optical testing

   CTE2

4. CTE3:

   Chamber: 32 ” long x 24 ” wide x 20” tall Pump: Turbo pump (550 L/s) capable of 10-8 torr also equipped with a vacuum EUV monochromator Temperature Range: Use: Extreme Ultraviolet Detector Characterization

   CTE3

5. BOT (Vacuum Bake-OuT Facility)

   Chamber: 22"(diameter) by 42" (length) Pump: 6" turbo pump capable of 10-6 torr Temperature Range: Up to 100 oC Thermal Capabilities: Use: Cleaning space flight instruments

   BOT

6. Bell Jar:

   Chamber: 18” diameter x 30 tall” Pump: Ion pump capable of 10-7  torr Temperature Range: N/A Use: Life testing

   Bell Jar

• Electronics Assembly Lab
  • There are currently five electronic assembly workstations set up for hand and surface mount soldering, and assembling of flight printed circuit boards, cabling, and subassemblies. Assembly stations are equipped with microscopes, Metcal soldering stations, anti-static hand tools, and test equipment.  The Assembly Lab is fully ESD-controlled, safe, and environmentally stable.
• Environmental Test Lab
  • The electronics test area is fully equipped with anti-static control. The main test area has two Delta Design thermal test chambers (-184.4°C to +315.5°C test capability) as well as a large-capacity Envirotronics thermal test chamber (-67.8°C - +177°C).
• Polymeric Lab
  • The potting lab is an environmentally controlled area where certified personnel mix and apply bonding materials, conformal coatings, encapsulants, and other polymeric materials. Equipment in the potting lab consists of bake-out ovens, vacuum chambers, microscopes, scales, and application instruments. A soldering station and class 100 laminar flow bench are also available for assembly or PCB repair.
• Cleaning Lab
  • The cleaning lab is equipped with ultrasonic tanks and a de-ionized water rinsing station. A 360^oF (max) drying oven is available for special applications. A vacuum bake-out chamber, 22^"(diameter) by 42^" (length) with a 6^" turbo pump capable of 10^-7torr range and temperature up to 100 ^oC is also available.
• Metrology Lab
  • The metrology lab is environmentally controlled in temperature, humidity, lighting, filtered air supply, minimal room vibration levels, and good housekeeping.
• Black Lab
  • All surfaces in this lab (walls, floors, etc) are matte black to reduce any reflected light during light sensitive testing.
• Calibration Labs
  • LASP has facilities for photometric calibration of instruments, optical components, and detectors.
  • A second type of calibration facility called the Collimated Beam Calibration Equipment (CBCE) can be used to measure the absolute sensitivity and angular response of telescope-spectrometer instruments using a standard photomultiplier tube that is calibrated at LASP against a NIST photodiode.
  • LASP also maintains a set of standard Deuterium lamps and FEL lamps, calibrated at the NIST, which are used in stand-alone configurations and in conjunction with scattering screens to measure absolute sensitivity of telescope-spectrometers as well as a number of spectrometers, polarizers, and general optical equipment. All of these test facilities are located in class 10,000 clean rooms.

LASP's 2 Story, Class
10000 Clean Room

One of the most impressive features of LASP's new addition is the 2000 sq. ft. high-bay clean room suitable for building spacecraft. Up to now, LASP has only had the facilities to engineer small to medium sized science instruments; but, with the versatility of the new large class 10000 clean room, we have more engineering options open to us. (Read more...)

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