News: Optoelectronics
18 October 2024
Lynred completes biggest space contract
Lynred of Grenoble, France — which designs and manufactures infrared (IR) sensors for aerospace, defense and commercial applications — has completed its biggest space contract so far, worth tens of millions of euros. After beginning in 2004 with Lynred conducting pre-development technology studies followed by a design and production phase in 2011, the firm recently delivered to Thales Alenia Space the last of 26 IR detector flight models destined for the more than 20-year operational lifespan of the MTG (Meteosat Third Generation) mission, a European Space Agency (ESA) program that aims to revolutionize storm prediction and enhance weather forecasting.
Operated by EUMETSAT (the European operational satellite agency for monitoring weather), the objective of the MTG mission is to guarantee the continuity of data for weather forecasting from geostationary orbit for the next two decades. The mission sets a focus on near-forecasting in order to anticipate any severe weather event within the context of current climate change. The full system is based on a series of two types of satellite: four MTG-Imagers (MTG-I) and two MTG-Sounders (MTG-S).
Lynred produced the flight models for all the satellites in the MTG program, comprising the MTG-I satellites (in 2018), an Earth spectral imaging instrument used for multi-purpose imagery and wind derivation by tracking clouds and water vapor features, and Earth atmosphere analysis (MTG-S) satellites. The firm says that this demonstrates its extensive design and technological capabilities for meeting the multiple objectives and stringent requirements needed in deploying top-tier IR imaging detectors for demanding space applications.
IR imaging achievements from SWIR to VLWIR
Over the past four decades, Lynred has developed and delivered IR detectors for a variety of space programs and seen them successfully deployed in missions. Key to its high-performance space-grade IR detectors is the company’s ability to leverage the inherent quality of its production-proven MCT (mercury cadmium telluride) technology and hybridization process, as well as harnessing its many years of experience in designing IR detectors.
Lynred says that it overcame numerous challenges in developing the IR detectors for these MTG satellites: notably, excelling in their performance in signal-to-noise ratio, linearity, operability, spectral response accuracy and MTF (modulation transfer function) across the entire electromagnetic spectrum – shortwave band (SWIR) to very longwave band (VLWIR). Other achievements include, in particular, the operation of IR detectors in the VLWIR spectral range up to 15 µm with low dark current and ultimate detector operability at nominal system operating temperature.
Next steps
In December 2022, ESA launched the first MTG-I satellite. The first MTG-S satellite will be launched during summer 2025. The second MTG-I satellite is scheduled for summer 2026, to complete the MTG in-flight full operational configuration. Following that, two other MTG-I satellites and another MTG-S satellite will be launched. These successive launches will enable the MTG program to fulfill its 20-year operational requirement into the early 2040s and provide data for meteorological forecasting. In the meantime, the next-generation meteorological satellite studies will be initiated.
Drawing on this experience, Lynred says that it has a heightened capacity to provide its long expertise in space infrared detector development, especially for next-generation meteorological satellites. The first studies are expected to start in the second half of this decade, so that the satellites will be ready for launch around 2040, to replace the existing generation of MTG satellites.
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