Teledyne e2v, which has a base in Chelmsford (UK) and is a part of the Teledyne Imaging Group, will supply image sensors to the recently announced ‘grouped proposal’ of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) industrial policy committee to place six Copernicus Sentinel satellite missions in space.
As the sensor partner for Thales Alenia Space, the UK team will develop, manufacture and supply variants of its Capella CMOS visible image sensor from Chelmsford.
The Capella CMOS image sensors for the Multi-Angle Polarimeter (MAP) are radiant tolerant, feature a large area resolution, 10µm pixels, and operate in the UV-NIR wavelengths. The MAP is one of four sensor instruments that makes up the Copernicus Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Monitoring (CO2M) mission.
The CO2M satellites, led by OHB as prime contractor with Thales Alenia Space providing the payloads, are dedicated to the measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by human activity. The MAP instrument provides additional information to the ‘image scene with the provision of spectral and polarisation data’.
The CO2M mission is part of the expansion of the Copernicus Space Component programme of ESA, in partnership with the European Commission. The European Copernicus programme provides Earth observation and in situ data and a broad range of services for environmental monitoring and protection, climate monitoring, natural disaster assessment to improve the quality of life of European citizens.
Christophe Tatard, Teledyne e2v’s vice president (business and product development for ‘Space and Quantum’), said: “The Capella platform provides a flexible solution specifically designed for space applications; this, combined with Teledyne e2v’s unique capabilities in engineering performance enhancing customised variants, has enabled us to continue the long tradition of supplying unique space-qualified solutions to ESA for the Copernicus programme.
“The cooperation between Thales Alenia Space UK and Teledyne-e2v has been exemplary, demonstrating the capabilities both companies can bring to the high-end instrumentation for space.”