(music)
(Jim Garvin) Once our design phase has given us a good map of what a satellite should look
like, and exactly what it must do, we need to put it together. Now our satellites
are assembled from great many pieces from cooperating manufacturers. And
engineers here at Goddard have to specify exactly how those manufacturers
should develop and manufacture these pieces. And one of the key parts of that
is specifying the exact, crystal-clear details on the size, the power, the data
rate for those parts. The next step, once all these parts are developed, is to
assemble them in a phase we call integration. Now this is essential. We
have all these parts, we need to put them together just right in just the right
sequence to make our spacecraft. Now one of the key concerns and integration is
contamination. We actually need something called a cleanroom,
which is very much like a hospital operating room to do this just right.
This is because in the harsh environment of space, our sensitive instruments and
the sensitive robotic spacecraft could be damaged if we're not careful. In fact,
in the high bay cleanroom here at Goddard, which is 10 stories high, one of
the biggest on Earth, we are more capable of assembling spacecraft to a standard
of cleanliness than anywhere else in the world. This is essential if our
spacecraft are going to work just right in space.