Aerospace Sourcing
Test labs and cleanrooms

Selling Spare Test Lab and Cleanroom Capacity to Aerospace Buyers

Aerospace and space buyers regularly need short notice access to vibration tables, thermal and thermal vacuum chambers, EMI rooms and cleanrooms. A lab can sell idle time to them if it can show accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 for the tests offered, equipment ranges that fit the hardware, and the ability to handle controlled programs.

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The short answer: idle chamber time has buyers, if they can trust the data

Test schedules slip constantly in aerospace. Hardware arrives late, a chamber goes down, or a qualification campaign needs a second facility to hold a launch date. When that happens, buyers look for a lab that can run the test to the specification on their test plan, produce data their customer will accept, and fit the hardware physically. Your spare capacity is worth the most when those three facts are easy to confirm.

Labs that sell overflow time well usually have three things ready: a current accreditation scope, a clear equipment list with ranges, and a simple way to tell buyers when time is open.

ISO/IEC 17025: the accreditation buyers check first

ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Accreditation bodies such as A2LA and ANAB assess labs against it and issue a certificate with a scope of accreditation that lists the specific tests and methods the lab is accredited to perform. The scope, not the certificate, is what a buyer's quality engineer reads.

Practical points:

  • Keep your scope current and easy to send. Check that it names the methods buyers ask for, not just general categories.
  • Check the validity date. An expired certificate on your website costs you work.
  • If a buyer needs a test outside your scope, say so plainly. Some will accept unaccredited data with witness testing, many will not.
  • Calibration of your own instruments should trace to accredited calibration providers.

Materials testing labs serving aerospace manufacturers may also need Nadcap accreditation in Materials Testing, and pyrometry service providers must be 17025 accredited under AMS 2750.

The test standards aerospace buyers bring

Buyers arrive with a test plan that cites a standard. The ones most common on Space Coast programs:

  • MIL-STD-810H, environmental engineering considerations and laboratory tests for defense equipment: temperature, humidity, shock, vibration, altitude, salt fog and more. It is a tailoring document, so the test plan, not the standard, sets the actual levels. Change 1 was released in May 2022 and rewrote Method 509, salt fog.
  • MIL-STD-461, electromagnetic interference and compatibility requirements, with conducted and radiated emissions and susceptibility test methods such as CS114 and RS103.
  • GSFC-STD-7000, the General Environmental Verification Standard (GEVS), NASA Goddard's baseline for environmental verification of payloads, subsystems and components, including vibration, acoustic, shock and thermal vacuum testing. Revision B is the current active version, and many commercial spacecraft builders use GEVS levels as a reference.
  • Launch vehicle user guides from the launch provider, which define the vibration, shock and acoustic environments a payload must be qualified against.

List which of these your lab has run, and which methods sit inside your accreditation scope.

Cleanroom capacity

Spacecraft integration, optics, propulsion components and precision cleaned parts all need controlled environments. Cleanrooms are classified under ISO 14644-1 by the maximum airborne particle concentration at specified sizes. For example, ISO Class 7 allows up to 352,000 particles per cubic meter at 0.5 micrometers and larger, and ISO Class 8 allows up to 3,520,000. Class 7 corresponds to the old Federal Standard 209E Class 10,000, and Class 8 to Class 100,000.

Buyers renting cleanroom space want to know the class, the certification date, floor area, door and ceiling clearances, crane or hoist capacity, grounding and ESD provisions, gowning, and whether they can bring their own technicians. If you also verify surface cleanliness of hardware, note whether you report to IEST-STD-CC1246 levels for particles and nonvolatile residue.

The Space Coast has a history here. Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville has processed NASA and national security payloads in its cleanrooms, and spacecraft manufacturing has grown in Exploration Park next to Kennedy Space Center. That activity creates periodic peaks where integration teams need extra controlled space.

What to include when you list spare capacity

ItemExamples of what buyers ask
Vibration and shockShaker force rating, frequency range, slip table and head expander sizes, max payload mass, pyroshock capability
Thermal and thermal vacuumChamber interior dimensions, temperature range, ramp rates, vacuum level, shroud and feedthrough count
EMI and EMCChamber size, frequency coverage, which MIL-STD-461 methods you run
ClimaticHumidity, salt fog, altitude, sand and dust, by MIL-STD-810H method
CleanroomISO class, area, clearances, crane capacity, gowning
Accreditation17025 scope with methods, Nadcap if any, expiry dates
AvailabilityOpen windows, minimum booking, setup and teardown time
Controlled workUS persons only staffing, ITAR registration status, data handling

You set your own rates. Buyers will ask for a day or shift rate and setup charges, so have them ready. Photos of each chamber and fixture interface plate, plus a sample test report with customer details removed, help a buyer's test engineer decide quickly whether your setup will work for their hardware.

Controlled programs and data

Much space and defense test hardware is export controlled, and test data can be too. Buyers will ask whether your staff on the job are US persons, how you store and transmit data, and whether you are registered with the State Department if you handle defense articles. Our ITAR registration page covers who needs to register. Aerospace Sourcing does not move ITAR, EAR or CUI data through the website; controlled data moves by secure transfer to US persons only.

How listing capacity with Aerospace Sourcing works

  1. Sign up at /suppliers/ and choose the option to list spare test lab or cleanroom capacity.
  2. Send your equipment list, accreditation scope and typical availability.
  3. When a buyer requests test lab time that fits your equipment and scope, we contact you with the test requirements.
  4. You sign a flow-down NDA before seeing customer data, and you do not learn the end customer unless the customer approves.

We review every signup. We do not promise a set number of bookings; we contact you when a request fits.

List your spare capacity free

If you have chambers, shakers or cleanroom space sitting idle between your own programs, list them at /suppliers/. It is free, and when a buyer's schedule slips, a lab with a clear scope and open dates is the one we can place first. Related pages: process houses for precision cleaning, electronics and harness shops whose hardware you may test, and the supplier hub.

Questions

Do I need ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation to sell test time?

Not always, but most aerospace buyers prefer or require it, because accreditation shows the lab is competent for the specific tests listed on its scope. Some buyers will accept unaccredited testing if they witness it or if the test is for development rather than qualification. Be clear about which tests are inside your accredited scope. Accreditation bodies such as A2LA and ANAB issue the certificate and scope.

What is GEVS?

GEVS is GSFC-STD-7000, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's General Environmental Verification Standard. It sets a baseline for showing, through test or analysis, that payloads, subsystems and components will survive their mission environments, and it gives guideline test levels and methods for vibration, acoustics, shock, thermal vacuum and more. Revision B is the current active version. Many commercial spacecraft programs use it as a reference even outside NASA.

How are cleanrooms classified?

Under ISO 14644-1, by the maximum allowed concentration of airborne particles per cubic meter at specified sizes. ISO Class 7 allows up to 352,000 particles at 0.5 micrometers and larger; ISO Class 8 allows up to 3,520,000. These roughly match the retired Federal Standard 209E classes 10,000 and 100,000. Buyers will ask for your class and the date of your last certification.

Can my lab sell time on defense or ITAR programs?

Possibly, if you can meet the controls. Export controlled hardware and data usually require US persons only access, secure data handling, and, if you handle defense articles, registration with the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Controls. Tell buyers up front what you can support. Aerospace Sourcing moves controlled data only by secure transfer to US persons, never through the website.

Does Aerospace Sourcing set my test rates?

No. You set your own rates and booking terms. When a buyer's request fits your equipment, accreditation scope and open dates, we contact you with the requirements so you can quote. Listing your capacity at /suppliers/ is free, and we do not promise a fixed number of bookings.

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