Sofradir lands largest space mission contract to date

Paris, France--Infrared (IR) detectors developer Sofradir has been awarded a contract in the value of tens of millions of euros to manufacture IR detectors for the engineering and flight model phases for the next generation of European meteorological satellites, Meteosat Third Generation (MTG). A total of six satellites will be launched under the MTG program.

This contract win marks the company's third major space contract win this year and the largest contract in its history, says Philippe Bensussan, chairman and CEO at Sofradir. The company has seen its satellite business triple in the last five years, as Earth observation spacecrafts use more IR imaging and multispectral equipment that increasingly require visible and IR products, he says.

The two other major space contract wins Sofradir was awarded in 2011 to supply IR detectors were MUSIS/CSO, a military imaging system, and the Sentinel-5-Precursor satellite mission.

Within the scope of the five-year MTG contract headed by European Space Agency (ESA), Sofradir will deliver to Thales Alenia Space France (TAS-F), a lmanufacturer of satellite and space equipment, custom designed IR detectors. The IR detectors will be integrated in two payloads: the Flexible Combined Imager (FCI) to take IR images of clouds and the InfraRed Sounder (IRS) to analyze the chemical composition of the atmosphere vs. altitude. They will operate wavelengths that extend from shortwave infrared (SWIR) to very longwave infrared (VLWIR), in order to better identify and measure various types of clouds and chemical elements.

In total, Sofradir will develop six different types of detectors. It will deliver up to 22 flight models for the MTG program.

The ESA contract represents the culmination of several years of work Sofradir has carried out on the MTG program. It enables Sofradir to progress to the final phase. Sofradir’s first involvement began in 2007, when it participated in the feasibility study in collaboration with CEA/LETI. Sofradir then advanced to the preliminary phase, where it developed IR detectors based on its mercury cadmium telluride (MCT) for testing.

Sofradir’s MCT IR technology applies in all wavelengths from the visible to VLWIR (above 15 µm). With this technology, it can use a single production line to manufacture IR detectors in different wavelengths, enabling both large-volume production and customized designs.

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