Clean Rooms
Controlled environments for instrument and payload assembly
RAL Space manages a suite of ISO Class 5 and ISO Class 6 clean rooms available to industry and academia for the assembly and integration of space hardware. Designed to support payloads, instruments and small satellite builds, these facilities provide the controlled and monitored conditions needed for work across space and ground‑based projects.
Access to facilities
All clean rooms are operated within the RAL Space ISO 9001 and EN9100 Quality Management System (QMS) scope. They are also certified to ECSS-Q-ST-20-07C alongside the test facilities themselves, a requirement for many programmes. They provide Electrostatic Dissipative (ESD) work surfaces and floor finishes to ensure work areas remain suitable for sensitive components and hardware.
Five clean rooms are available, configured to support optical instrument builds, payload integration and small satellite assembly programmes.
Clean Room Specifications
- Each clean room has a floor area of around 85m2
- Overhead cranes available in the three ISO 5 rooms with a capacity of 1tonne and a hook height of 3m
- No cranes in the two ISO 6 rooms
- “Dark” clean room available at ISO 6 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 operator
- 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
Enquire about using our clean rooms for your next project
Contact our team to find out how you can access our facilities
