Development And Test Of An Integrated Focal Plane Star Sensor For Cryogenic Environment Operation

An integrated focal plane star sensor based on a four-quadrant detector was designed and developed for operation from ambient down to cryogenic temperature. One of the first applications of this system will be the fine pointing of the Infrared Space Observer (ISO) telescope, therefore the performance was optimized for operations around 2K. The sensor is constituted of a small sensitive head, operating at cryogenic temperature with very low power consumption, and of a processing electronics working in the typical temperature range for space electronics. A breadboard was reliazed and successfully tested both at ambient temperature (with reduced accuracy) and at 20K. The accuracy referred to the ISO optical system, was measured to be better than 1 arcsec.