Exosens invests in Meteor programme with Leicester’s Space Park

Exosens invests £1m to propel space research and innovation for the Meteor programme in partnership with Leicester’s Space Park

PRESS RELEASE
MÉRIGNAC, FRANCE – SEPTEMBER, 26th 2024

As a pioneer of technology used across the Solar System, Exosens, through its leading brand Photonis has invested £1 million (approximately €1.2 million) to advance space research and innovation in collaboration with Leicester’s Space Park.

Exosens has worked with University of Leicester academics for more than 25 years and more recently it forged a relationship with the university’s science and innovation hub, Space Park Leicester, working alongside it on technology which is being used in some of today’s most exciting space missions.

It has now invested £1 million, through funding and other support, contributing to the creation of a Center of Excellence in Optics Design and Manufacturing at Space Park Leicester. This cumulated funding will enhance the METEOR space programme which brings together more than 100 researchers, industrial research and development personnel working on Earth observation and the challenges facing the space sector’s evolution.

Dr Adrian Martindale, Head of Space Projects and Instrumentation at Space Park Leicester and a Lecturer in Space Instrumentation at the University of Leicester, said: “Photonis’ technology is the enabler for certain types of scientific instruments and as a result its technology is on lots of space missions and is all over the Solar System. Exosens is supporting us to help develop the quality of the product and the performance of the technology, to push us into the next generation of projects. We have aspirations in space and they have aspirations for a market on the ground and by working together we hope to take both of these things forward.”

Chris Tisse, Chief Technology Officer at Exosens said: “We are proud to support cutting-edge space research at Space Park Leicester. This significant investment reflects our commitment to advancing the technology that powers groundbreaking space missions and innovation. By working together with the brilliant minds at the University of Leicester, we aim to push the boundaries of what's possible in both space exploration and Earth-based applications."

Leicester space academics worked with Photonis on detector systems and together they developed an entirely new X-ray optic.
Photonis’ technology was the cornerstone of Space Park Leicester’s Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument which is on its way to Mercury on the European Space Agency’s BepiColombo mission.

Dr Martindale said: “Photonis’ technology is absolutely crucial to the development of that instrument. Essentially, MIXS will help to measure the X-rays that are emitted from the surface of the planet and by measuring them we’ll be able to figure out what the rocks on the surface are made of. This will tell us how the planet formed and we’ll see whether that fits in with theories about how the Solar System formed.”

The optic Photonis developed with Space Park Leicester has also led to Leicester’s space scientists working on several more significant missions.
These include SVOM (Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor), which is dedicated to the study of the most distant explosion of stars, and SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) which is a wide-field X-ray telescope that uses micropore optics to spectrally map the location, shape and motion of Earth’s magnetospheric boundaries.

Dr Martindale added: “Photonis’ technology will answer questions about Mercury and as a result questions about planetary science, it will answer questions about astronomy through SVOM and it will answer questions about the Earth through SMILE.”

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To find out more about Exosens and leading brand Photonis, visit https://www.exosens.com/brands/photonis

For more information about Space Park Leicester, visit https://www.space-park.co.uk/ or to learn about the University of Leicester, go to https://le.ac.uk/about

ENDS

ABOUT SPACE PARK LEICESTER

Space Park Leicester is a community at the forefront of the UK space sector, established through a partnership led by the University of Leicester. A world-leading cluster for innovative research, enterprise and education in space and Earth observation, Space Park Leicester represents a collaborative hub for industry and academia to develop and grow.

Opened in Spring 2022 by British European Space Agency astronaut Major Tim Peake, Space Park Leicester provides state-of-the-art facilities for research, development, and manufacturing. It houses capabilities and companies covering an end-to-end life-cycle, from satellite design and engineering, through to downstream data and its applications. This creates unmatched opportunities for collaboration.

Explore Space Park Leicester partnerships, missions, residents, facilities, training programmes and innovation products at: https://www.space-park.co.uk/

ABOUT EXOSENS:

Exosens is a high‐tech company, with more than 85 years of experience in the innovation, development, manufacturing and sale of high‐end electro‐optical technologies in the field of amplification, detection and imaging. Today, it offers its customers detection components and solutions such as travelling wave tubes, advanced cameras, neutron & gamma detectors, instrument detectors and light intensifier tubes. This allows Exosens to respond to complex issues in extremely demanding environments by offering tailor‐made solutions to its customers. Thanks to its sustained investments, Exosens is internationally recognized as a major innovator in optoelectronics, with production and R&D carried out on 11 sites, in Europe and North America and with over 1,700 employees.

Exosens is listed on compartment A of the regulated market of Euronext Paris ﴾Ticker: EXENS – ISIN: FR001400Q9V2﴿. Exosens is included in the CAC Small, CAC Mid & Small and CAC All-Tradable indices, and is a member of Euronext Tech Leaders segment.

Media contacts:

For Space Park Leicester:

Kristy Hobbs kristy.hobbs@ojpr.co.uk / +44 1604 882342.

For Exosens:

Brunswick group – exosens@brunswickgroup.com

Laetitia Quignon, + 33 6 83 17 89 13

Nicolas Buffenoir, + 33 6 31 89 36 78

Forward-looking statements

Certain information included in this press release are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs, expectations and assumptions, including, without limitation, assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which Exosens operates, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the forward-looking statements included in this press release.