e2v has won a contract to supply imaging sensors to the Space Application Centre (SAC), part of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), for their new satellites. As part of the ISRO’s plan to develop imaging resource satellites, the SAC will develop two satellites using e2v’s charge coupled devices (CCD) — Resourcesat 3 will use three cameras: LISS 4, LISS 3 and a multi-spectral camera with resolution of 1 m in panchromatic mode and 2 m in multi-spectral mode. Liss 3 and Liss 4 will have 2.5 m and 5 m resolution. Cartosat 3 will use a single multi- spectral camera.

The high performance e2v CCD sensors utilize Time Delay Integration (TDI), anti blooming functionalities and back thinning post processing to obtain very high quantum efficiency. This will provide Indian earth observation programs with superior resolution enabling the monitoring of land and urban development, agriculture and soil, forests, environment, bio and also aid in disaster support.

Brian McAllister, general manager of space and scientific imaging at e2v, said, "This is a significant new contract for e2v. These devices will be designed and manufactured in Grenoble (France), highlighting the synergies of the Grenoble facility with our traditional Chelmsford (UK)-based space imaging expertise and expanding the type of products e2v can supply to space agencies. We are proud to support SAC ISRO for these earth observation developments.”