CCD imagers for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite from benchtop to space environment

Abstract

AbstractThe Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology‐led NASA Explorer‐class mission planned to spend 2 years discovering transiting exoplanets by an all‐sky survey. The observatory contains four wide field‐of‐view camera systems for a total of 16.8 Megapixel, low‐noise, low‐power CCD detectors. Now over 5 years beyond its launch date and 10 years after the CCD design tape out, we report on our approach for managing camera system development, with particular emphasis on the design, fabrication, and testing of the silicon detectors, developed on 200‐mm high‐resistivity wafer substrates. Finally, we present implications of the CCD manufacture observed in the on‐orbit performance.