Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-Optical Reconnaissance

If asked to think of a telescope, most people will picture a long tube with a lens at either end. But a new experimental optical instrument developed by Lockheed Martin could usher in ultra-thin devices that weigh 90 percent less than typical telescopes while providing equivalent resolution. The first images captured by the Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-Optical Reconnaissance (SPIDER) have now been revealed.

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Tau.Neutrino said:

Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-Optical Reconnaissance

If asked to think of a telescope, most people will picture a long tube with a lens at either end. But a new experimental optical instrument developed by Lockheed Martin could usher in ultra-thin devices that weigh 90 percent less than typical telescopes while providing equivalent resolution. The first images captured by the Segmented Planar Imaging Detector for Electro-Optical Reconnaissance (SPIDER) have now been revealed.

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“Unlike conventional telescopes, which rely on lenses or mirrors, SPIDER replaces the primary lens with a thin array of tiny, insect-like lenses. Each of these lenses feeds light to a silicon-chip photonic integrated circuit (PIC), so the telescope is essentially a bank of still cameras.”

Fabrication is not the issue, as many optical sensors already have a lens built in over each pixel. The purpose of that is to increase the light gathering power of the sensor and improving its sensitivity to light that falls on the pixel at an angle other than 90°.