Our space industry

customers include

NASA, Galileo,

Sodern, Boeing,

TRW, Lockheed

Martin, Northrop

Grumman, Orbital

Sciences, Ithaco,

the Indian Space

Research

Organization, Canadian Space Agency and Surrey Satellite

(SSTL) .  Servo products are proven components with many

Over the years the majority of Earth sensors built for satellite attitude determination use thermistor

bolometers as their eyes.  Servo is the only supplier of these devices and we have been supplying them

In the 1980s Servo developed a pyroelectric detector made of

Lithium Tantalate (LTO), specifically designed for space flight.  

It was qualified for use on the T-SCANWHEEL built by Ithaco

for the TOMS program.  This technology formed the basis for

the pyroelectric array built by Servo and used on the MiDES

Earth Sensor Assembly.  Later a Radiation-Hard Pyroelectric

Optical Barrel Assembly was also developed for the Boeing

Corporation (Hughes Aircraft), and is currently used on their

spin-stabilized satellites. 

Pyroelectric detectors, made of Lithium Tantalate, are not only

less expensive to build but they are much more sensitive devices than either the traditional bolometers

or thermopiles. The performance advantage of this material lies in its large pyroelectric current output

and high temperature stability. In addition it the material is easily photo lithographically patterned to

form detector arrays in easily-changeable configurations. 

Servo continued the development of LTO devices by combining the detector technology with our

systems engineering capabilities to produce a variety of detector based products that contain integral

electronics.  Multiple detector arrays that are hybridized are the heart of the Servo Earth Sensor product

line and enables unprecedented accuracies to be achieved in an Earth sensor.  One unique feature of this

type of detector is that there is a constant voltage difference between a reference and the target, either

Earth or space.  This characteristic results in the elimination of thermal calibration tables or the use of

heaters to stabilize the unit temperature. It enhances the overall accuracy and maintains it over the full

operating temperature range.      

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