Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies has a world-renown, highly experienced Contamination Engineering and Thermal Coatings Group with staff members who have over 50 years of experience in the field, making it the largest Contamination and Thermal Coatings Group in the world. The Group is comprised of individuals with comprehensive talents (physicist, chemists, computer scientists; and materials, chemical, mechanical, aerospace engineers)and wide ranges of expertise. Our group addresses all types of Contamination  and Thermal Coatings- related problems and issues. We have supported critical NASA missions and most major NASA spacecraft programs, since NASA’s inception in the late 1950’s. Our Contamination Engineering and Thermal Coatings group has also supported wide variety of non- aerospace industries (computer chip lithography, high tech cleanrooms, medical/surgical cleanliness) interested in achieving high-level contamination control within facilities and equipment.

The SGT Contamination and Thermal Coatings Group is the premier technical group focused on space contamination, thermal coatings, new technology development, molecular contamination data acquisition and analysis, modeling, particle contamination data evaluation, BRDF and automated Image Analysis of particles, and particle modeling. In addition, the Group has served as NASA's "go- to" group for Tiger Teams, problem solving, and assessments of contamination effects for predicted contamination for Missions, as well as contamination events for already-launched missions.

Our team of Contamination Engineers have extensive contamination experience with NASA, the Department of Defense, academic institutions and commercial spacecraft missions. Our involvement in past and current technology development activities includes:

• Molecular Absorbers
  
• light Contamination Monitors 
  
• New Ground Contamination Detection Techniques
  
• Development of New Coatings (contamination absorbing coatings, dust repellant coatings, high alpha/low emittance, visor coatings, vapor deposited, composite coatings)
  
• New Coatings Application Methods

We have also supported a number of non-aerospace fields such as: degradation of lenses and mirrors in semi-conductor lithography optical systems; and particle deposition and effects on optical systems, and investigating methods of controlling contamination in large-scale laser facilities.

Members of the Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies Contamination Engineering and Thermal Coatings group have held positions with NASA and a number of major aerospace companies for a number of years. They have been involved in identifying and solving many contamination-related issues for space missions, including projects from the inception of NASA in 1958 to the current challenges NASA faces today, and is working on the future missions at NASA including the "Beyond Einstein" missions. The world of Contamination Engineering has grown increasingly more complex and sophisticated due to the increasingly more complicated and optically sensitive spacecraft and instrument systems. The more widely recognized missions our team has provided support for include SDO, LRO, SAM, NPP, JWST, GLAST, ELC, HST Servicing Missions, GOES; and earlier missions, such as FUSE, TOMS, Landsat, EOS, the very important COBE mission, as well as the International Space Station and the SOHO, TRMM, SMEX and TRACE spacecrafts.

Our expertise includes:

• Develop of contamination sensitivities and allowable contamination requirements
• Development of sensitive optics/subsystem on-orbit protective methods (on-orbit deployable covers, actuator-driven aperature covers, on-orbit de-contamination heaters)
• Development of ground protection methods (covers, purges, clean tents, protective peel-off films)
• Facilities contamination control and monitoring
• Contamination Engineering Program Management, documentation development, and implementation
• Effective contamination control design for spacecraft instruments, optical systems, and semi-conductor lithography systems
• Thermal vacuum bakeouts to reduce contamination levels of parts, components, subsystems, and spacecraft
• Newest techniques for controlling and measuring molecular and particulate contaminants
• Leading industry experts for cutting edge analytical modeling, venting and plume analyses
• Thermal Coatings application, measurements, testing and new coatings development
• Coatings development for Lunar and Martian applications
• Development/flight readiness of Flight Monitors on-orbit measurements
• Laboratory testing and measurements
• Outgassing measurements and analysis of materials data
• Contamination monitoring during ground ops, prelaunch, and launch operations
• Post-launch, on-orbit servicing contamination control methodologies and design
• Return-to- earth, post flight hardware analysis; evaluation of flight hardware after exposure to space environments; development of new analytical models and lessons learned based on results