SOUTHAMPTON-BASED company Leonardo is set to see its infrared sensors aid NASA in finding habitable planets.

Telescopes and astronomical instruments have improved radically over the past 40 years, but infrared sensors have remained much the same and until now their sensitivity has limited astronomers.

However, scientists working at Leonardo in Southampton have demonstrated an exciting evolution of their thermal imaging technology.

It forms part of Leonardo’s wider capacity to develop cutting-edge electro-optical instruments for space that support all major international missions.

NASA have awarded $4 million to the University of Hawaii’s, Institute for Astronomy (IfA) for critical sensor technology – with the mission being led by experimental astrophysicist Michael Bottom, in collaboration with Leonardo in Southampton, Markury Scientific, and Hawaii Aerospace as the collaboration will develop a new generation of ultra-sensitive sensors to observe distant planets and their atmospheres.

The new infrared sensors will offer a sensitivity to short wave infrared an order of magnitude better than any current technology in space. The Institute for Astronomy is already showing that these new detectors are suitable for the dark conditions that will be encountered in future space telescopes.

Keith Barnes, Science Detectors Programme Manager, at Leonardo in Southampton said: “We are proud that our technology will play a key role in identifying nearby habitable planets, with our advanced infrared sensors resolving the incredibly faint spectroscopic signals that are the hallmarks of a habitable planet.

“The 2048x2048 pixel arrays will be at the heart of future astronomical telescopes, studying not only exoplanets but other important stellar objects with a sensitivity an order of magnitude better than any previous infrared sensor.

“This new sensor has been developed over a decade on a number of projects, including for the exploration of black holes, so we feel excited to see how far our joint capability can help uncover more secrets of the universe.”

This new mission aims to identify and classify about 25 Earth-like exoplanets, to determine if they possess atmospheres suitable for life.

Professor Michael Bottom explained: "The technology developments required to make this space mission viable are extremely ambitious, and detectors are among the most difficult parts. But when it flies, we'll be able to tell for the first time if habitable, Earth-like planets are common in our corner of the universe."