optics and neutron predecessor astrium eads group founded 1962 headquarters limeil br vannes france products stars trackers c.n.a. strip filters net income 65 m number of employees 350 parent airbus group website http www.sodern.com sodern is a french company based in limeil br vannes near paris in ile de france specialized in space instrumentation optics and neutron analyzers . contents 1 history 2 activity 2.1 spatial instrumentation 2.1.1 stars trackers 2.2 optical instrumentation 2.2.1 strip filters 2.3 neutron 3 management 4 references history edit ips visible on the side of the astro 1 observatory sodern was created in 1962 in the philips laboratory of electronics and applied physics lep to launch a first generation of external neutron sources . 1 in the late sixties sodern began to diversify its activities towards optical and high tech space sensors for which it is today the global leader . 2 in the early 70s on cnes demand sodern realized the first european earth sensors sensors dedicated to the attitude control of the experimental telecommunication satellite symphonie . 3 in 1975 the european space agency esa subcontracted the manufacturing of multiple instruments for the spacelab . sodern achieved a high precision scoring system dedicated to readjust the inertial and to high performance attitude measurement . sodern also delivered sed04 stars trackers for the instrument pointing system ips of the spacelab observatory . 4 these sensors had a precision of 0.75 seconds of arc thus the precision needed to see a golf ball from a 10 km 6.2 mile distance . 2 meanwhile in the mid 1990s sodern enhanced its optical instrumentation activity dedicated to space . activity edit although sodern activity started in the neutron area by designing neutron sources for the french deterrent force it began to diversify into optical sensors and advanced spacecraft instrumentation in the late 1960s . spatial instrumentation edit nowadays its activities cover several ranges of space instruments . instruments for satellite attitude control earth 5 and solar sensors and stars trackers 6 equipping among others spot 7 helios 8 eurostar satellites 9 and m51 missile . 10 the first earth sensor was created in 1977 and boarded on meteosat i. instruments for earth observation cameras optical and optronic instruments for spot satellites helios envisat etc. . advanced optical instruments for the nuclear industry the french deterrence force and scientific research for example astrium atv videometers 11 that can guide its automatic docking 12 to the international space station iss and the infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer iasi instrument for metop . 13 unique scientific instruments created on demand and integrated aboard satellites space stations and space vehicles such as pharao atomic clock 14 developed from the work of the nobel laureate claude cohen tannoudji critical liquids on declic orbit study instruments 15 some of the main components of the camera seeking for exoplanets aboard corot satellite 16 etc. stars trackers edit as a star trackers worldwide leader sodern takes in 75 % of the global market with two other european leaders galileo italy and jena optronik germany . 17 sed16 sensor has been the first to be used to replace gyroscopes in satellites . it was launched for the first time in may 2002 aboard spot 5 . 18 it has since flown with numerous satellites including the us communication satellite amc 12 on february 2005 . 19 sed26 his almost similar successor was launched on april 2005 aboard the satellite apstar vi . the u.s. probe dawn that was made to visit two asteroids vesta and ceres locates itself thanks to sed16 sensors . 20 those sensors are within all sodern s supplied equipment those farthest from earth in deep space . the sed26 sensor guides among others the european automated transfer vehicle atv 21 the satellites helios 2 22 orbview 3 and 4 sorce from the american manufacturer orbital and more than a dozen satellites of the russian manufacturer iss reshetnev . 23 hydra star tracker june 15 2005 sodern announced the development and production of hydra sensors 24 more accurate more compact and lighter than the sed . development of the sensor was funded by the european space agency esa and the french space agency cnes and resulted in a radiation resistant sensor about half as heavy as the sed which were 3kg weight which consumes only one watt while operating and which has a precision of one arc second on each of its three axes . sodern has sold more than a hundred of hydra sensors so far first of which was launched on september 6 2012 aboard the french satellite spot 6 . 25 optical instrumentation edit in the late 60s several projects in optical instrumentation have been materialized such as the strips 26 bands incorporating all the data exchanged during the operations of air traffic control as well as the prototype of a mini camera for the french hospital val de gr ce detecting gamma and beta rays to facilitate complete removal of cancerous tumours . during the 1980s sodern designed the focal plans and the optics for the meris 27 instrument of the european space agency satellite envisat provided the cameras for the programs iasi 28 cnes and calipso 29 cnes nasa and the dioptric objective of the corot 30 instrument which doesn t observe the earth but looks into space searching for exoplanets or studying the seismic activity of the stars . by producing spot1 s camera in 1986 dta01 31 sodern began a long participation in earth observation programs providing cameras as much as optical and optronic instruments for the satellites ranges spot helios envisat etc. strip filters edit strip filters optical instrumentation and space being often linked sodern has developed a new generation of multi spectral filters strip filters . 32 the acquisition on multiple spectral bands is enabled by the use of multiple elementary optical filters juxtaposed to each other . regarding the technology developed by sodern this juxtaposition is obtained by assembly of strips the strip being a sub set containing all the functions of an elementary filter . the final component is called assembled strip filter . the number of elementary filters and their characteristics centring width rejection sloping edges etc. depend on the type of the satellite earth observation in the visible infrared etc. . neutron edit in the 1980s sodern has developed its civil neutron activity and designed neutron generators tn26 33 then genie36 34 used by radioactive waste reprocessing plants for the measurement of transuranic elements . it s also used for in situ measurements in mining and oil logging for the control of raw materials in metallurgy for the detection of explosives and in neutron radiography . 35 in the early 1990s a first neutron flanged tube for the oil logging electrical logging was designed at the request of schlumberger first of an ongoing collaboration . cement cna in the late 1990s a new project of neutron analyzer was launched the continuous neutron analyzer cna for the analysis of cements . 36 the principle of material analysis by neutron interrogation was then extended for a vast range of applications coal ores copper nickel bauxite iron scrap and waste . in 2010 about 70 of those devices had been sold mostly to cement makers . 37 these cnas are marketed by another company panalytical . 38 based on the same principle of analysis sodern designed ines a detector of explosives for luggage at airports . this detector was developed jointly with the french commissariat l energie atomique cea . it has used a technology called fna for fast neutron activation different from its american competitor science applications international corp. technology which is called tna for thermal neutron activation . sodern fna detector was based on the fact that explosives often contain a large amount of oxygen and nitrogen but little carbon . a pulsed generator of neutrons then enabled it to detect such elements . the detector was able to analyze 1200 bags per hour for a detection rate of 99.8 % . 39 it has not yet been commercialized . thor military version and ulis civilian version emerged in the 1990s . they make the detection of explosive and hazardous materials toxic chemicals products as illegal ones possible in abandoned luggage and parcels from a distance . 40 their small size allows them to be carried like a suitcase . nipps neutron induced prompt photometer system allows the non intrusive detection of illicit and dangerous substances . 41 it has been used by the organisation for the prohibition of chemical weapons opcw . 42 management edit the main shareholder 90 % has been the european company airbus group the remaining 10 % being held by the french atomic energy agency cea . in 2016 the company employed about 350 people including around 60 % of engineers . references edit observatoire des armes nucl aires fran aises la recherche et la fabrication des armes nucl aires en france aujourd hui cahier n 6 20 in french . may 2001 . p. 22 . a b new scientist 1529 . p. 49 . cite error invalid ref tag ; name new scientist .231529 defined multiple times with different content see the help page . seetman bill 2007 . jane s space systems and industry 2007 2008 . p. 84 . jean pierre krebs . capteurs d attitude et dispositifs d imagerie pour satellites pdf . techniques de l ing nieur trait lectronique in french . p. 6 . noise analysis of dry lubricated ball bearings for a scanning earth sensor mechanism . 374 . 1995 185 . bibcode 1995esasp .374 . .185 n. e2v and sodern celebrate the sale of the 100th satellite attitude star tracker incorporating e2v image sensors . e2v . 25 october 2007 . new scientist 1584 . p. 53 . hugues lanteri 15 may 2005 . ariane 5 donn es relatives au vol 193 pdf . astrium in french . p. 16 . eads space le bourget 2005 . eads in french . 13 june 2005 . le missile m51 . netmarine in french . archived from the original on july 26 2013 . cs1 maint unfit url link atv des rendez vous sous l il d un laser . bulletin electronique in french . 9 september 2002 . docking video . astrium vid oth que in french . 24 february 2011 . metop . eoportaldirectory . pharao design report issue dedicated to the aces mission srr . cnes.fr . 15 may 2005 . s minaire de prospective scientifique spatiale du cnes pdf . cnes.fr in french . 6 july 2004 . p. 146 . corotcam la cam ra de corot pdf . obspm.fr in french . europe dominating satellite startracker market . spaceref . 16 november 2012 . marc pochard . new in flight results of sed16 autonomous star sensor 54th international astronautical congress . zarm centre of applied space technology and microgravity . e2v and sodern celebrate the sale of the 100th satellite attitude star tracker incorporating e2v image sensors . e2v . 25 october 2007 . c. anthony vanelli ; brett smith ; edward swenka ; steve collins 6 february 2010 . straight on til morning guidance and control flight experience from the dawn spacecraft . univelt . p. 3 . daniel deak 8 march 2008 . atv le nouveau ravitailleur de l iss . obsat in french . jacques van oene december 13 2004 . eads space with its subsidiaries is strongly involved in flight 165 . spacebanter . sodern star trackers for iss reshetnev s spacecraft . iss reshetnev . 28 june 2011 . d.danesy . 6th international esa conference on guidance navigation and control systems held 17 20 october 2005 in loutraki greece new sodern s aps based autonomous multiple heads star sensor hydra three heads are better than one . the sao nasa astrophysics data system . piot damien ; oddos marcel lionel ; gelin benoit ; thieuw alain ; genty patrick ;