4/15/2003: New Mars rover

[GlassJaw]

Originally posted by Pie


I think they're trying to keep from infecting the Red Planet with terran bacteria, virii, etc. The whole thing is being assembled in a cleanroom. [snip]
- Pie

It is hard to tell from the pict if it is a true Cleanroom, or merely a Controlled Environment. The difference being in the number of allowable particles greater than 0.5 Micron in diameter per cubic foot of air; Cleanrooms like Intel uses to make wafers for harddrives are rated and tested at 1 (or less!) particle per cubic foot of air, Controlled enviroments are typically rated at 1000 or 10,000 particles per ft^3.

Either way, The gloves they are wearing are Nitrile Critical Environment Gloves, where the gloves are designed to protect the environment/equipment from the particles shed by the people, and not necessarily protect the people from the environment (as in the case with Surgical Gloves.)

In my previous life, I worked QA/QC for one of the companies that supplied these types of gloves for AMD/Intel/etc. Quite fascinating actually.