Two specialist image sensors on board NASA’s New Horizons Mission provided by global technology firm, e2v, are set to capture the first ever close up images of the dwarf planet Pluto.
When New Horizons is at its closest approach to Pluto later this month, e2v image sensors will have minutes to capture as much data as possible from the dwarf-planet as it flies by.
e2v helping New Horizons view Pluto
After more than nine years in space, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, is on course for a dramatic flight past the dwarf planet Pluto and its moon Charon 14 July 2015. The spacecraft is now closer to Pluto than the Earth is to the Sun and sensors capturing this journey are provided by Chelmsford based company, e2v.
“Very little is known about Pluto. It is classed as an icy dwarf, with a significant part of its mass believed to be made up of ice. It is so far away that even images from Hubble, which also uses e2v image sensors, are very blurred. Developing bespoke sensors for this mission is a great example of how we are bringing life to technology. We are extremely proud of our contribution and look forward to seeing what our sensors discover.”
Matt Perkins, President of Space Imaging at e2v
e2v’s specialist technology
Innovators in space imaging, e2v have had their equipment on board over 150 space missions by the world’s largest space agencies, including NASA, in a bid to help solve the mysteries of the Universe and understand climate change on Earth.
e2v has provided New Horizons with two specialist image sensors – LORRI ((Long Range Reconnaissance Imager) and Ralph. LORRI is a black and white telescopic camera and Ralph is a multi colour scanning imager which will produce a full colour image of the surface of Pluto as New Horizons flies past.
“LORRI is very similar to the Navcam image sensor we made for the Rosetta mission, which has been producing the majority of the incredible images of comet 67p. LORRI will be providing images of the approach to Pluto, as well as high resolution geological data as New Horizons passes the dwarf-planet.”
Paul Jerram, Chief Engineer of Image Sensors at e2v
Record breaking New Horizons
New Horizons is travelling at nearly 33,000 miles per hour, and its journey from Earth to Pluto has covered almost 32 AU — about 3 billion miles.
"This is an amazing project — one that will go down in the history 21st century achievements. And the history-making is just beginning — in July we reach Pluto, humankind’s farthest exploration shore, to explore it and its fascinating system of moons for the first time!"
Alan Stern, New Horizons Principal Investigator, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado
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