28 September 2016

e2v has been awarded a contract by Leonardo-Finmeccanica for the supply of customised Charge Coupled Device (CCD) image sensors for their Multi-viewing, Multi-channel, Multi-polarisation Imager (3MI), an instrument for a series of weather and climate monitoring satellites. The 3MI instruments will be integrated by Airbus Defence and Space, as the Prime Contractor, on the three Meteorological Operational Second Generation (MetOp-SG) 'A series' of satellites, being developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for EUMETSAT.

The customised e2v CCD design is based on the successful CCD47-20 image sensor which has been used in many star tracker missions and scientific instruments for atmospheric monitoring. The frame transfer image sensor will be used in the visible and near infrared channels of the instrument, which will measure aerosol properties with unprecedented accuracy and resolution, compared to other current optical missions.

3MI has 13 spectral channels that are optimised for different wavelengths and will scan Earth image strips up to 2,200 km in width, with a ground resolution of 4 km. The pixel size of the sensor has been optimised for high dynamic range in order to increase the accuracy of the radiometry performed.

e2v will deliver image sensors for three instruments on the MetOp-SG 'A series' of satellites, which will be launched in series starting from 2021 for a total mission lifetime of 21 years.

In addition to 3MI, e2v will provide high performance CCD314 image sensors for the ultra-violet, visible and near infrared channels of ESA's Sentinel-5 instrument (part of the Copernicus cooperation with the European Union) to monitor various trace gases, air quality and support climate monitoring. e2v will also supply the highly innovative CMOS linear device for the visible and near infrared focal plane of DLR's METimage instrument, to provide information on clouds, land surface properties, sea and ice. Both the Sentinel-5 and METimage instruments will also be embarked on the MetOp-SG 'A series' of satellites.

Romeo de Vidi, Program Manager, Space Line Business at Leonardo-Finmeccanica, said, 'Leonardo's electro-optical systems are on-board all of the most important international planetary exploration and Earth observation programmes and so our instruments need to be extremely precise and reliable. We selected e2v as a partner for 3MI because of the company's proven skills and capabilities that we're seeing in other programmes that we're working on together.'

e2v's Key Account Manager, Jean Francois Bruyeres, said, 'We're delighted to have signed this contract and partner with Leonardo-Finmeccanica to deliver a customised sensor for climate monitoring. High quality aerosol imagery will facilitate the measurement of all essential aerosol parameters, which are becoming increasingly important for accurate weather prediction.'

EUMETSAT is the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites

DLR is the German Aeronautics and Space Centre

- Ends -

Prepared by Silvia Carestia

For e2v media enquiries, please contact: emma.brown@e2v.com | +44 (0)1245 453505

For Leonardo media enquiries, please contact: john.stevenson@finmeccanica.com | +44 (0) 1268 883013

Notes to Editors:

About e2v: Bringing life to technology, e2v partners with its customers to improve, save and protect people's lives. e2v's innovations lead developments in automation, healthcare, communications, safety, discovery and the environment.

e2v employs approximately 1750 people worldwide, has design and operational facilities across Europe, North America and Asia, and has a global network of sales and technical support offices. e2v has annual sales of GBP236M as at 31 March 2016 and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information visit www.e2v.com

About Leonardo-Finmeccanica: Leonardo-Finmeccanica is among the top ten global players in aerospace, defence and security and Italy's main industrial company. Listed on the Milan Stock Exchange (LDO), at 31 December 2015 the company recorded consolidated revenues of 13 billion Euros and has a significant industrial presence in Italy, the UK and the U.S. Leonardo has designed and built Space technology since the 1960s.

Today, the company provides a complete offering ranging from satellite manufacturing and orbiting infrastructures up to the management of satellite services and the production of a wide range of high-tech instruments, subsystems and sensors. Leonardo is involved in the world's most cutting-edge Space programmes including Copernicus, Galileo, COSMO-SkyMed, MetOp Second Generation, Meteosat Third Generation, Rosetta, BepiColombo, Venus Express, ExoMars, Dawn, Juno, JUICE, Cassini, New Horizons, Euclid and the LISA Pathfinder.

E2V Technologies plc published this content on 28 September 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 28 September 2016 08:40:07 UTC.

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