Rockwell Scientific Recognized by NASA for Breakthrough Infrared Detector Technology — Technology will significantly improve infrared astronomy

Business Wire, Nov 10, 2004

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- Rockwell Scientific Company LLC (RSC) announced today that RSC scientists James Garnett, Markus Loose, and Majid Zandian, along with team members from the University of Hawaii, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the Space Telescope Science Institute, have been honored with the prestigious Space Act Award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Inventions and Contributions Board. The RSC/UH team worked closely with its customer, the NASA Ames Research Center, to develop the extremely sensitive, large-format infrared detector array technology for astronomy. This breakthrough innovation has dramatically improved focal plane arrays in the 0.6 to 5 micrometer region of the infrared. Astrophysical observations of unparalleled sensitivity have been made possible with this invention.

NASA gives this award for scientific and technical contributions that advance NASA's aeronautical, commercialization and space goals. RSC, long known for providing the enabling technology and instruments that allow for the advancement of great scientific work, was selected for recognition based on the team's development of very sensitive detector technology capable of operating at higher temperatures than existing state-of-the-art detectors. RSC will design and develop this technology for the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) Instrument of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the famed Hubble Space Telescope. RSC's ultra sensitive 16 megapixel focal plane arrays offer a several hundred-fold increase in pixel count over those currently used in space-based telescopes for infrared astronomy missions. "These imaging devices will greatly expand our astronomical capabilities and give us the opportunity to study the evolution of the universe in greater detail," said James Garnett, Program Manager of the JWST NIRCam detector program at RSC. The RSC detectors are key instruments in capturing the "first-light" emitting objects to form after the Big Bang.

About Rockwell Scientific Company

Rockwell Scientific Company LLC, based in Thousand Oaks, CA, is an independent, privately owned high-technology enterprise with unique technical strengths in imaging sensors, electronics, optics, materials, and information science. Its range of activities include U.S. Government and private sector companies, as well as the manufacturing and sale of high- value products and licenses closely related to its R&D efforts. Additional information can be obtained at www.rockwellscientific.com.