Pixelink® Awarded Contract to Supply Camera Technology to NASA

Pixelink® Awarded Contract to Supply Camera Technology to NASA

Orion Spacecraft to use Pixelink camera technology for Optical Navigation System

Pixelink, a Navitar Company and a global provider of industrial cameras for the machine vision and microscopy markets, has been chosen in conjunction with Deep Space Systems, an engineering services firm with expertise in human and robotic exploration spacecraft design, to supply Pixelink camera technology to NASA.

NASA chose Pixelink industrial camera technology to be used in three locations on the NASA Orion spacecraft project, which is being built to take humans farther into space than they have ever gone before. This spacecraft and its multi-purpose crew (MPCV) will be using Pixelink technology to capture important imagery of launch and re-entry events including heat shield inspection.

“The Pixelink camera technology provided the best solution for the demanding and rigid performance specifications that the Orion project demanded. These cameras image the Earth and the Moon in order for the spacecraft to independently calculate its position and velocity in Cis-Lunar space,” commented Stephen Bailey, President and CEO of Deep Space Systems. “This is critical for crew members onboard when adjusting their entry flight path angle for return to Earth under loss of communication and/or ground based navigation conditions.”

Paul Saunders, President of Pixelink comments, “We are committed to providing high quality, durable products. Winning this contract is further testament we are doing just that. We are proud to deliver a dependable application solution to Deep Space Systems and NASA, contributing to the success of Orion, America’s next human exploration spacecraft.”

Deep Space Systems will repackage, ruggedize and test the Pixelink cameras ensuring each unit withstands the extreme environmental conditions of spaceflight, such as vibration, temperature variances, radiation, dynamics, and vacuum pressure.