Sensors / Detectors / Transducers
Sofradir Secures First Contract Win from Indian Space Agency
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High value contract covers new innovations for longer-life infrared detectors targeting space
Chatenay-Malabry, near Paris, France - Sofradir, a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced infrared detectors for military, space and industrial applications, announces today that ISRO/SAC, the Indian Space Research Organization's Space Applications Center in Ahmedabad has awarded Sofradir a 2.5 year infrared detector contract.
Under the contract, Sofradir will develop large format infrared detector prototypes for testing and will deliver numerous flight models. The value of the contract is undisclosed.
"We are proud to become a supplier to the Indian Space Research Organization, a major player in the space community," said Philippe Bensussan, chairman and CEO at Sofradir. "This is Sofradir's first contract for flight models with the Space Applications Center. Foremost, it is the outcome of several years' close cooperation with the IR team at SAC that included delivering IR detectors for ground testing. It is also a result of our growing reputation as a reliable supplier of technically innovative IR detectors that have proven robust performance in space."
ISRO/SAC will receive flight models of Sofradir's best selling IR detector for space applications, the large format 1000x256 Saturn SWIR (ShortWave InfraRed). In the last four years, Sofradir has delivered as many as ten Saturn SWIR flight models to aerospace companies. ISRO/SAC will use Saturn SWIR for future projects within the scope of India's hyperspectral earth observation satellite developments.
Compared to Sofradir's Saturn SWIR detectors currently deployed in space instruments, such as PRISMA and TROPOMI, Sofradir will integrate two new features on top of Saturn SWIR's space proven configuration. The innovations will meet ISRO/SAC's requirements for added performance.
The first innovation consists of a new long-life high-power active cooler. This longer-life cooler has been designed to extend the operating lifetime of Saturn SWIR from one to four years, as a single robust element.
The second innovation involves an integrated custom optical filter that significantly reduces the complexity of optics located in front of the detector.
"With this new contract, we'll be expanding our offer in space applications to include longer-life cooled IR detectors optimized for size, weight and power," said Bensussan. "Our customers will benefit greatly from this development."
ISRO focuses on developing capabilities in India to build and launch communication satellites for television broadcast and telecommunications, meteorological satellites, as well as remote sensing satellites for managing natural resources.
About Sofradir
Sofradir is the number one developer and manufacturer of a key class of infrared (IR) detectors for military, space and industrial applications. It specializes in cooled IR detectors based on a sophisticated high performance technology, Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) to which the InSb, InGaAs and QWIP technologies are now added. Its vast product portfolio of scanning and staring arrays covers the entire infrared spectrum.
Sofradir's headquarters are located in Chatenay-Malabry, near Paris, France. Its manufacturing facilities and those of ULIS, its subsidiary manufacturing mass volume uncooled IR detectors, are located in Veurey-Voroize, near Grenoble, France. Sofradir EC, the company's US subsidiary, operates in Fairfield, NJ. In 2011, annual sales for the Sofradir Group, which includes subsidiaries ULIS and Sofradir EC, reached EUR 150M, two-thirds in exports around the world. Sofradir, ULIS and Sofradir EC employ more than 650 people.
For more information: www.sofradir.com
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