After travelling for more than 1.7 billion miles through space over the past five years, on 4 July 2016, e2v’s image sensors have accurately guided NASA’s Juno spacecraft to reach its destination, Jupiter, the gas giant. On reaching the planet, the spacecraft will enter the robotic explorer into a polar orbit to probe Jupiter’s atmosphere, temperature, clouds, magnetic and gravity fields and magnetosphere.
Flight proven and used in many other missions around the world, e2v’s TH7890 512 x 512 14 micron pixel front illuminated area array image sensors for star-trackers were provided by e2v’s manufacturing centre in Grenoble. They have been used to determine the orientation of the spacecraft by measuring its position relative to stars. These optical devices were specifically designed to ensure very high pointing accuracy and stability over long periods and to survive the severe radiation surrounding the planet, as Juno flies closer to the gas giant than any other spacecraft ever before.