Based at Skypark in the heart of Glasgow, AAC Clyde Space premises include a 600m2 Class 10,000 clean-room and 200m2 of electronics labs. These facilities allow AAC Clyde Space to both manufacture and test in-house with its ESA-qualified technicians. AAC Clyde Space headquarters has recently expanded by a further 250m2 to accommodate a new clean room dedicated to its environmental test facilities. This expansion comes after the company’s most successful year to date and just 13 months after moving from its previous base. With further expansions of 400m2 previously announced the total cleanroom capacity will be 1000m2 in 2016. The clean room and component stores are fully ESD controlled and strictly monitored. AAC Clyde Space offers a complete on-site environmental test capability. The facilities include: on-site light sources for testing solar panels; a thermal test chamber suitable for performing thermal cycling tests on both EM and flight hardware, which can cycle over a temperature range of -70°C to -180°C; a thermal vacuum chamber and vibration testing rig. These have been sized for qualification testing of nanosatellite spacecraft platforms up to 6U (12kg) in size. In addition to its manufacturing and test facilities, in order to support the growing fleet of Clyde-built spacecraft, the company is also establishing a satellite command and control ground station at its headquarters. This facility is expected to come on-line in late 2016 and will initially feature VHF, UHF, and S-band communications capabilities.
