Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory (GUSTO)

Specialized cleanrooms are used to protect and ensure the safety of flight hardware such as telescope optics, cryostats, and lasers. Inside the cleanroom, the GUSTO team will integrate flight electronics, optics and mechanical support elements into a 150-liter liquid helium cryostat. My area of responsibility focused on setting up and monitoring components of the cleanroom such as air particle counts, humidity, temperature, and safety of electrostatic discharge (ESD) while handling hardware. To ensure that personal contaminates are not introduced to the instruments, precautions are taken. All personnel working in the cleanroom must adhere to requirements of gowning procedures that include the wearing of smocks, hairnets, face masks, ESD shoes, and ESD wrist straps. With the required procedures, proper set-up of the cleanroom, and continuous monitoring of the lab environment, there is greater assurance of mission success due to the reduction of risks associated with payload integration.