Overview
ISO 15388:2022 - "Space systems - Contamination and cleanliness control" defines general requirements and guidance for preventing particulate, molecular and biological contamination across the full lifecycle of space systems. Applicable at all tiers of supply, it covers ground processing facilities, ground support equipment (GSE), launch vehicles, spacecraft, payloads, and both ground and on‑orbit operations. The standard also guides development of a contamination and cleanliness control programme to protect mission performance and ensure objectives are met.
Key topics and technical requirements
ISO 15388:2022 organizes contamination control into management, design, biological control and operational activities. Important topics include:
- Management and planning
- Cleanliness Requirement Specification (CRS) and Contamination and Cleanliness Control Plan (CCCP)
- Interface Control Documents (ICD) and project reviews to coordinate supplier responsibilities
- Design activities
- Identification of contamination‑sensitive hardware and cleanliness‑oriented design
- Contamination prediction and establishment of a contamination budget
- Material selection with attention to outgassing, offgassing and absorbed water vapor
- Biocontamination
- Controls for microbial contamination, sterile hardware, habitable systems, planetary protection and sample protection
- Ground operations and facilities
- Cleanroom selection and operating procedures, garment selection, facility failure planning
- Training, GSE cleanliness, monitoring of hardware and nearby environments
- Cleaning, packaging and transport
- Cleaning procedures, bakeout (temperature‑driven outgassing reduction), purging, containment, storage and transport practices
- Analysis and uncertainty
- Annex B: guidelines for contamination analysis procedures
- Annex C: factors for combined uncertainty in measurements
Practical applications and users
ISO 15388:2022 is used to define baseline cleanliness requirements and to harmonize practices across suppliers and contractors. Typical users include:
- Spacecraft and payload system engineers and program managers
- Contamination control engineers and cleanliness assurance teams
- Cleanroom and facility managers, test and integration personnel
- Procurement and quality assurance professionals specifying CRS/CCCP
- Planetary protection officers and astromaterials custodians
- Laboratories performing contamination analyses and outgassing tests
Applying this standard helps reduce performance degradation (optical, thermal, mechanical, fluid systems), protects sensitive instrumentation, improves repeatability of test campaigns, and supports compliance with planetary protection and sample‑return requirements.
Related standards (normative references)
ISO 15388:2022 references several complementary standards often used together:
- ISO 14624‑3 (offgassed products)
- ISO 14644‑1 (cleanroom classification)
- ISO 14698‑1 / 14698‑2 (biocontamination control)
- ISO 14952‑2 / 14952‑3 (fluid system surface cleanliness and analysis)
- ASTM E595 (outgassing test method)
- ECSS‑Q‑ST‑70‑02C (thermal vacuum outgassing screening)
Keywords: ISO 15388:2022, contamination control, cleanliness control, space systems, cleanroom, outgassing, bakeout, biocontamination, contamination budget, CRS, CCCP, GSE, planetary protection.
