[SatNews] The new contract is for IR technology to be implemented in a nexgen EO satellite...

Sofradir has been awarded a multi-million Euro contract to manufacture Infrared (IR) detectors for the engineering and flight model phases for the MUSIS/CSO next generation Earth observation military satellites. These satellites will replace the current Helios 2 observational system. Within the framework of the four-year MUSIS/CSO contract, Sofradir will deliver to Thalès Alenia Space France (TAS-F) high resolution custom design IR focal plane arrays for the optical imaging cameras. The exact value of the contract was undisclosed.


The CSO (Optical Space Component) is the French government’s contribution to the future MUSIS (MUltinational Spacebased Imaging System) that will include optical and radar space components. Astrium, a leading aerospace company, is the prime contractor for the CSO satellite development contract. The French space agency CNES awarded the contract to Astrium in 2010. CNES was delegated by the French procurement agency DGA to manage the project. Sofradir first became involved in MUSIS/CSO in 2005, when it carried out a feasibility study and preliminary development of the IR detectors. Sofradir will complete delivery of all the IR detectors by 2015. These are based on the Sofradir’s Mercury Cadmium Telluride (MCT) technology, a highly complex semiconductor material that is unavailable to all but a few manufacturers in the world because it is tricky to master.