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Curiosity is a rover. Rovers require cleanrooms for assembly for the reasons that you just mentioned, since they land. I don't think this is an issue with orbit

by shas3 12y ago

Curiosity is a rover. Rovers require cleanrooms for assembly for the reasons that you just mentioned, since they land. I don't think this is an issue with orbiters. For example, one of the reasons failing orbiters are of concern is that contamination can be an issue if they crash into the surface. See Japanese orbiter Nozomi, for example: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2003/11/29/national/experts-fear-orbiter-nozomi-will-collide-with-pollute-mars/ http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2003/11/29/national/experts... Using the expert rule, I can't imagine Indian engineers not being concerned about contamination. It is such an obvious risk that it is probably one of the first things they'd look for. I mean, there is 50 years of precedent available to anyone working in this field. Edit: Also, they may have done their work in non-cleanroom environments and post that, they may have sterilized the orbiter. Edit 2: Sorry for the multiple edits, but in spite of Hanlon's razor, I sense an underlying bias. Here's another NASA photo of a satellite assembly, and they are using ungloved hands: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mars_Reconnaissance_Orbiter_solar_panel.jpg http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mars_Reconnaissance_O... ESA Mercury orbiter: http://sci.esa.int/bepicolombo/50304-removing-the-clamp-bands/ http://sci.esa.int/bepicolombo/50304-removing-the-clamp-band... (I think there's a guy leaning over in the bottom left corner of the pic and probably dripping snot on to the orbiter too.)

cscurmudgeon 12y ago
Not to call out someperson, but I would love to see him/her respond to your last two photos.
rzimmerman 12y ago
In the MRO image it's hard to see, but I'm pretty sure they are wearing thin white gloves (probably nitrile). The ESA picture says its from a thermal and mass model, and the guy in question is hovering over a test fixture. I can't say much about the ISRO video. I hope it's just press footage of something that isn't the actual flight unit. That would be pretty reasonable. Later in the video you can see the techs wearing gloves pulling the vehicle off a moment of inertia test. It's encouraging, but the fact that they're wearing hair nets while half the guys have giant, uncovered beards is not. With Curiosity, NASA even went so far as to aim the initial trajectory to miss Mars. This was out of fear that the upper stage of the rocket, which did not have the same amount of contamination control, would collide with the planet. MOM's orbit is fairly eccentric, so it's not likely to collide with Mars any time soon. I think we have a lot of time to study Mars before we worry about any potential contamination.
- TylerE 12y ago
  I've never seen white nitrile gloves. As one of the main use cases for nitrile is avoiding latex allergies they are almost always colored (usually blue or purple) to make it clear they aren't latex.

by shas3 12y ago

cscurmudgeon 12y ago

Not to call out someperson, but I would love to see him/her respond to your last two photos.

rzimmerman 12y ago

In the MRO image it's hard to see, but I'm pretty sure they are wearing thin white gloves (probably nitrile). The ESA picture says its from a thermal and mass model, and the guy in question is hovering over a test fixture. I can't say much about the ISRO video. I hope it's just press footage of something that isn't the actual flight unit. That would be pretty reasonable. Later in the video you can see the techs wearing gloves pulling the vehicle off a moment of inertia test. It's encouraging, but the fact that they're wearing hair nets while half the guys have giant, uncovered beards is not. With Curiosity, NASA even went so far as to aim the initial trajectory to miss Mars. This was out of fear that the upper stage of the rocket, which did not have the same amount of contamination control, would collide with the planet. MOM's orbit is fairly eccentric, so it's not likely to collide with Mars any time soon. I think we have a lot of time to study Mars before we worry about any potential contamination.

TylerE 12y ago
I've never seen white nitrile gloves. As one of the main use cases for nitrile is avoiding latex allergies they are almost always colored (usually blue or purple) to make it clear they aren't latex.