HIGH-SENSITIVITY SHORT AND MEDIUM WAVE INFRARED CAMERAS

SPACE SCIENCES CORPORATION PROPOSES THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH PERFORMANCE INFRARED CAMERAS FOR SPACE-BORNE, AVIONIC AND GROUND BASED APPLICATIONS. COMMON SYSTEM LEVEL PERFORMANCE ISSUES ARE ADDRESSED INCLUDING OPTICS, DETECTOR TECHNOLOGY, CRYOGENIC COOLING SYSTEMS, VIDEO BANDWIDTH ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTERS, AND IMAGE COMPENSATION PROCESSING FOR DETECTOR DARK CURRENT, RESPONSIVITY VARIATIONS, AND INSTRUMENT BACKGROUND. TARGET OBJECTS FOR EACH CLASS OF MISSION REQUIREMENTS ARE CLASSIFIED IN TERMS OF SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND SPECTRAL EMISSIONS. FOR EACH APPLICATION A BASELINE SET OF MISSION DESIGN GOALS ARE ESTABLISHED WITH THE COMMENSURATE CLASS OF APPLICATION SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES ADDRESSED. UNIQUE AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS ARE PROPOSED FOR REAL-TIME IMAGE COMPENSATION PROCESSING. ALSO A BRIEF SYNOPSIS IS GIVEN OF SPACE SCIENCES DEVELOPMENT OF THE PTSI INFRARED TARGET TRACKER/RESOLVED RADIOMETER FOR THE SDIO STARLAB PROGRAM. PHASE I TASK A AND TASK B DEVELOPMENT EFFORTS ARE OUTLINED IN PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS OF WORK.