News
- Titlee2v CCDs to help COROT search for extra-solar planets [French Version]
- Date04 July 2005
French mission, COROT, will rely for success on image sensors from e2v technologies, a world leader in the design and supply of CCDs for scientific applications. Four e2v CCD42-80s will enable the COROT instrument to capture detailed telescopic images as it travels its polar orbit around the Earth in the search for extra-solar planets.
Planned for launch in June 2006 from Russia, COROT (COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits) is part of the PROTEUS small satellites programme, lead by the French National Space Agency, CNES. The COROT space telescope, 30 centimetres in diameter, will be put into circular polar orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 827 km for at least 2.5 years.
In preparation for the launch, four e2v CCDs have been integrated by EADS Sodern into the mission's focal plane, which aims to measure seismic activity and help in the search for extra-solar, habitable planets. It will pick out the planets as they cross the paths of their parent stars, hence changing the brightness of the star. The focal plane of CCDs will be a crucial piece of equipment, helping to detect very small signal variations across extended time spans. The frame transfer CCDs from e2v are back-thinned for optimum sensitivity and offer 2048 x 2048 active pixels. They will operate at temperatures below -40°C.
Commenting on e2v's involvement, e2v's Sales Manager for Space Imaging in Europe, Jean-Francois Bruyeres, said: 'e2v is thrilled to be involved with the COROT mission. Being part of the European drive to find new planets is very exciting, particularly since this will be the first spacecraft to detect rocky planets, like Earth, as opposed to large gaseous ones, like Jupiter. We could be helping to make space history here!'
Astronomers hope that COROT may find 10-40 rocky planets, alongside several undiscovered gaseous planets.