Sofradir secures first contract win from Indian space agency

“We are proud to become a supplier to the Indian Space Research Organization, a major player in the space community,” said Philippe Bensussan, chairman and CEO at Sofradir. “This is Sofradir’s first contract for flight models with the Space Applications Centre. Foremost, it is the outcome of several years’ close cooperation with the IR team at SAC that included delivering IR detectors for ground testing. It is also a result of our growing reputation as a reliable supplier of technically innovative IR detectors that have proven robust performance in space.”



ISRO/SAC will receive flight models of Sofradir’s best selling IR detector for space applications, the large format 1000x256 Saturn ShortWave InfraRed. In the last four years, Sofradir has delivered as many as ten Saturn SWIR flight models to aerospace companies. ISRO/SAC will use Saturn SWIR for future projects within the scope of India’s hyperspectral earth observation satellite developments.



Compared to Sofradir’s Saturn SWIR detectors currently deployed in space instruments, such as PRISMA and TROPOMI, Sofradir will integrate two new features on top of Saturn SWIR’s space proven configuration. The innovations will meet ISRO/SAC’s requirements for added performance.



The first innovation consists of a new long-life high-power active cooler. This longer-life cooler has been designed to extend the operating lifetime of Saturn SWIR from one to four years, as a single robust element.



The second innovation involves an integrated custom optical filter that significantly reduces the complexity of optics located in front of the detector.



“With this new contract, we’ll be expanding our offer in space applications to include longer-life cooled IR detectors optimized for size, weight and power,” said Bensussan. “Our customers will benefit greatly from this development.”



ISRO focuses on developing capabilities in India to build and launch communication satellites for television broadcast and telecommunications, meteorological satellites, as well as remote sensing satellites for managing natural resources.