FEBRUARY 7--CCD (charge-coupled-device) imaging devices from e2v technologies (www.e2v.com) have rocketed into space with NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto. The sensors, incorporated into the spacecraft's Ralph and LORRI science instruments, will help provide unprecedented image data on the planet. New Horizons will collect key information on the surface, composition, and atmosphere of Pluto and its orbital companion Charon.
e2v technologies supplied a total of 27 CCDs for the spacecraft's Ralph instrument, five of which were flight devices. These sensors will enable high-resolution mapping of Pluto and Charon's surfaces. The visible and infrared Ralph spectrometer will provide composition, color, and thermal maps for scientific analysis. Further e2v sensors in the telescopic camera LORRI, the spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, will help to provide extremely high resolution and highly detailed images of Pluto, its large moon Charon, and its two newly discovered smaller moons. Such scientific studies will provide information on the Kuiper Belt planets, which survive billions of miles away from the Sun.
e2v develops and manufactures high-technology electronic components and subsystems, which it supplies into three core areas: medical and science, aerospace and defense, and commercial and industrial.