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European Space Agency names PLATO exoplanet hunting mission sensors in memory of Jean-Francois Bruyères

PLATO, Europe’s exoplanet hunter, will contain 26 telescopes each with four visible wavelength Teledyne e2v CCD image sensors named CCD Bruyères.

 CHELMSFORD, UK, April 29, 2019 — The European Space Agency (ESA) has officially designated the CCD sensors that comprise the focal plane arrays of the 26 telescopes being supplied for ESA’s PLATO exoplanet hunting mission, CCD Bruyères. ESA officially acknowledged this announcement in the technical specifications of the instruments of PLATO (PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars). Jean-Francois Bruyères sadly passed away on June 3, 2018 and was instrumental in the development of the use of the CCD sensors for PLATO.

Jean-Francois, a highly respected colleague and well-known figure in the space industry, had overseen countless space imaging projects for Teledyne e2v. His contribution enabled many of the major space science discoveries of our time, from Gaia, Envisat, CoRoT, and the Sentinel satellites of the Copernicus Programme.

During its lifetime, PLATO will precisely measure the size, mass and age of planets around other stars, survey a large area of the sky, and study the full diversity of thousands of stars and planetary systems across our galactic neighbourhood, a fitting legacy to Bruyères, who dedicated his career to space imaging. To date, astronomers know of several thousand exoplanets orbiting distant stars. Many of them were discovered by the Kepler and CoRoT space missions, which were also equipped with Teledyne e2v’s CCD image sensors. PLATO is expected to discover many more exoplanets, which will then be further investigated and analysed by ground-based telescopes, generating a huge amount of follow up activity by the astronomy community.

PLATO Exoplanet Hunter Concepts. Credit: ESA

Claudine Bruyères, wife of Jean-Francois, commented: “Jean-François always enjoyed the challenges presented by his job, and appreciated the friendship and support of his many colleagues and customers across the space community.”

Filippo Marliani, PLATO Project Manager at ESA, said: “All the thoughts of the PLATO Project go to Jean-Francois and his family. We all suffered his sudden departure, and we still miss his enthusiasm and dedication. All the successes of the PLATO mission will bear Jean-Francois imprint.”

Dave Morris, Chief Engineer at Teledyne e2v, said: “The sudden passing of Jean-François was a great shock and loss, both on a personal and professional level for all who knew him in our business. We are diminished without his daily dedication and inspiration in all that he touched.”

 

About Teledyne e2v

Teledyne e2v’s innovations lead developments in healthcare, life sciences, space, transportation, defense and security, and industrial markets.

Teledyne e2v’s unique approach involves listening to the market and application challenges of customers and partnering with them to provide innovative standard, semi-custom or fully-custom imaging solutions, bringing increased value to their systems.

In combination with its sister companies, Teledyne DALSA and Teledyne Imaging Sensors, three imaging powerhouses, together represent a new paradigm in the delivery of innovative imaging solutions built on unrivalled expertise and a deep technological heritage that includes capabilities across the spectrum, from infrared to x-ray imaging.

 

About Teledyne Imaging

 Teledyne Imaging is a group of leading-edge companies aligned under the Teledyne umbrella. Teledyne Imaging forms an unrivalled collective of expertise across the spectrum with decades of experience. Individually, each company offers best-in-class solutions. Together, they combine and leverage each other’s strengths to provide the deepest, widest imaging and related technology portfolio in the world. From aerospace through industrial inspection, scientific research, spectroscopy, radiography and radiotherapy, geospatial surveying, and advanced MEMS and semiconductor solutions, Teledyne Imaging offers worldwide customer support and the technical expertise to handle the toughest tasks. Their tools, technologies, and vision solutions are built to deliver to their customers a unique and competitive advantage.

 

Media Contact:

Mark Bown
Teledyne e2v
01245 493 493
email: [email protected]

Published 2019-04-29
Relevance: Aerospace & Defense Teledyne e2v

Charge Coupled Device renamed as CCD Bruyéres for PLATO Exoplanet Space Telescope



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