Leonardo to develop Nasa’s infrared sensors to find habitable planets

Specifically, it is the university’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA) that will be working on the technology, along with the Southampton offices of Leonardo, with the mission being led by experimental astrophysicist Michael Bottom. It will form part of Leonardo’s wider goal to develop electro-optical instruments for Space supporting a range of international missions, from Earth Observation to Science, from Navigation to Exploration.

While telescopes and astronomical instruments have improved radically over the past 40 years, highlights Leonardo, infrared sensors have remained relatively unchanged and their sensitivity has limited astronomers.

Apparently, the Institute for Astronomy is already showing new detectors are suitable for the dark conditions that will be encountered in future space telescopes.

“We are our proud that our technology will play a key role in identifying nearby habitable planets, with our advanced infrared sensors resolving the incredibly faint spectroscopic signals that are the hallmarks of a habitable planet,” said Keith Barnes, Science Detectors Programme Manager at Leonardo. “The 2048×2048 pixel arrays will be at the heart of future astronomical telescopes, studying not only exoplanets but other important stellar objects with a sensitivity an order of magnitude better than any previous infrared sensor.”

“This new sensor has been developed over a decade on a number of projects, including for the exploration of black holes, so we feel excited to see how far our joint capability can help uncover more secrets of the universe.”

This Nasa mission aims to identify and classify about 25 Earth-like exoplanets, to determine if they possess atmospheres suitable for life.

Why infrared sensors? Astronomers image exoplanets at infrared wavelengths because the contrast between a planet and its host star is highest in infrared.

Image: top, Nasa, bottom, Leonardo

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