SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory celebrated completion of the LSST camera assembly clean room on May 8. The clean room is necessary for assembly of the LSST camera because any dust settling on the image sensors would degrade the quality of the precision device. The air inside the new facility is about 1,000 times “cleaner” than ordinary air. The main 1,875 square foot work space has a ceiling height of 24 feet to allow the approximately 10-feet-long camera body to be mounted vertically for optical alignment and final testing.
“The completion of the clean room is a big milestone for the lab,” said LSST Director Steven Kahn. “It’s the first major piece of LSST infrastructure here at SLAC.”
The DOE laboratory is responsible for providing the LSST’s 3.2 gigapixel digital camera. Assembly of the camera will occur over the next four years.
Adapted from a SLAC news feature.
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