Kaustubh
Member • Jul 10, 2011
GAIA Is ESA's 1 Billion Pixel Camera. Stop Flaunting Your DSLRs, Please!
GAIA isn't what you are thinking right now. European Space Agency (ESA) is on an ambitious project to map over 1 thousand million stars (lots of zeros, huh?) and researchers working on this ultra-sensitive space astrometry mission have assembled 106 electronic detectors [charge coupled devices (CCDs)] of this camera like a large mosaic. The mission will see the spinning Gaia spacecraft monitor each of the pinpoints of light up to 70 times over a five year period. The purpose of this camera is to 'see' the stars one millionth time fainter than a human eye can see.
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Gaia CCDs integration onto the CCD support structure. Location: Astrium, Toulouse, France. Copyright: Astrium
The electronic detectors are rectangular in shape and measure only 60x47 mm. The thickness has been limited to just few microns. All of the CCDs have been fitted together on the CCD support structure (CSS) while keeping the gap between each CCD package at about 1 mm. Silicon carbide used in these detectors provides exceptional thermal and mechanical stability. The whole assembly weighs around 20 kg. The focal plane of the camera measures 1 × 0.5 m. Chelmsford's, UK based company, e2v technologies was awarded the contract to develop the CCDs as per specifications back in 2005. The purpose of the CCD is to convert the incoming light energy into electric energy and store it as a tiny data package aka pixel until it can be recognized by an onboard computer. GAIA is the largest digital camera ever built for any space mission so far.
For functioning & details of the camera, check out #-Link-Snipped-#.
#-Link-Snipped-#
Gaia CCDs integration onto the CCD support structure. Location: Astrium, Toulouse, France. Copyright: Astrium
The electronic detectors are rectangular in shape and measure only 60x47 mm. The thickness has been limited to just few microns. All of the CCDs have been fitted together on the CCD support structure (CSS) while keeping the gap between each CCD package at about 1 mm. Silicon carbide used in these detectors provides exceptional thermal and mechanical stability. The whole assembly weighs around 20 kg. The focal plane of the camera measures 1 × 0.5 m. Chelmsford's, UK based company, e2v technologies was awarded the contract to develop the CCDs as per specifications back in 2005. The purpose of the CCD is to convert the incoming light energy into electric energy and store it as a tiny data package aka pixel until it can be recognized by an onboard computer. GAIA is the largest digital camera ever built for any space mission so far.
For functioning & details of the camera, check out #-Link-Snipped-#.