The companies developed and produced integral sensors for studying the sun from the closest distance carried out so far
SRI International (SRI) and Tower Jazz announced that they have provided the first models of sensors based on CMOS technology to the US Naval Research Laboratories (NRL) for use in the Heliospheric Research Telescope (SoIoHI). Thanks to its wide field of view, the telescope will be able to take high-resolution images of the solar wind corona and connect distant observations of the corona to the plasma measured while observing the spacecraft.
The SoloHi system is part of the Heliosphere program of NASA and the European Space Agency ESA, which is scheduled to take off from Florida in 2017. The spacecraft is designed to study the Sun from the closest distance ever to it.
The Heliosphere program will be the first time a large format CMOS detector will fly into space. The measurements of the SoloHI system will allow scientists to detect space weather events such as mass ejections from the corona. Such a mass ejection could change the magnetic field on Earth and thus affect high voltage lines, communication satellites and cellular telephone services.
"This is the first time the SoloHI sensor we developed for the US Navy has been sent into space, and it's an important step toward broader deployment of the technology in a wider variety of space-related applications," said Mark Clifton, vice president, products and services at SRI International. "Tower-Jazz's CMOS image sensor production technology helped us achieve the innovative solution."
The SoloHI sensor is based on CMOS technology at 180 nm, radiation resistant. The sensor contains 2,000 x 2,000 pixels (four megapixels) and passed the initial tests at SRI. The final camera will contain four such sensors which together will allow a resolution of 16 megapixels.
The manufacturing platform for the SoloHi CMOS sensor in Tower-Jazz is a 180 nm process that exists in Newport Beach, California. Tower-Jazz has been working with SRI for several years and supports various sensor applications for the US government and the development of customized technologies with solid radiation, low noise optimization and process adaptation.
"We are pleased to see the 180 nm CIS process integrated into the US Navy's flight program through our work with SRI," said Marco Recanelli, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Space and Defense Business Division at Tower-Jazz. "The CIS process is another living example of our strong commitment to technological innovation for clients related to the space programs and the US government."
About SoloHi
SoloHI is funded by NASA as part of the "Living with a Star" program which aims to find out how the Sun changes, how the systems surrounding it respond to these changes, and the effect this has on humanity, space and the activity of the Earth. NASA's Goddard Space and Aeronautics Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the program for NASA's Heliophysics Division.
For information on the SRI website - an American partner in the project together with Towerjaz
