Lynred SWIR detector to fly on Copernicus CO2M satellite mission
Infrared (IR) detectors provider Lynred (Grenoble, France), whose offerings serve the aerospace, defense, and commercial markets, has been contracted by Thales Alenia Space (Cannes, France) to supply its large shortwave-infrared (SWIR) detector, NGP (Next-Generation Panchromatic), for the CO2M mission, as part of Europe’s Copernicus program. Copernicus is the core satellite Earth observation program of the European Commission and a cornerstone of the European Space Agency (ESA) activities in the field as well.
Thales Alenia Space—contracted by OHB System, the prime contractor of the CO2M (Carbon Dioxide Monitoring) project—will integrate Lynred’s NGP SWIR detector in a spectral imager instrument. The spectral imager is designed to measure the quantity of CO2 gas in the Earth’s atmosphere generated by human activity. As part of the payload, Lynred will participate in playing a key role in studying the causes of climate change and monitoring it.
Previous space project contracts Thales Alenia Space has awarded Lynred include the MTG FCI (Flexible Combined Imager) and the MTG IRS (Infrared Sounder).
Features of the NGP large-format SWIR flight model include:
- Coverage of wavelengths of interest in the SWIR region, corresponding to the absorption of different elements present in the atmosphere (e.g., CO2, NOx, CH4, etc.)
- The format is well suited to meeting the current requirements of spectro-imager instruments, notably the swath cover (the area imaged on the Earth’s surface) as well as the spectral resolution
- Radiometric performances are well adapted to meet the signal-to-noise ratio parameters of the atmosphere chemistry applications required, such as in the CO2M mission
Flight models of NGP are currently deployed in instruments onboard other environmental space observation missions, including the Sentinel 5 ESA instrument onboard the METOP-SG platform and the French space agency CNES’ Microcarb.