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I'm a spacecraft thermal engineer (not in remote sensing), and this sentence leapt out at me. Do you have any example papers on microbolometer advances you cou
by tullianus 6y ago
I'm a spacecraft thermal engineer (not in remote sensing), and this sentence leapt out at me. Do you have any example papers on microbolometer advances you could share?
> We’ll also be taking advantage of advances in microbolometer technology, to eliminate the crazy cooling requirements that have made thermal satellites so expensive in the past.
- topherhaddad 6y agoI don't have any papers offhand, but the wikipedia page on microbolometers is great. Traditional sensors for thermal imaging are made of materials like InSb and HgCdTe, which require cooling to cryogenic temperatures in order to limit dark noise. These types of sensors are similar to visible sensors where an electron is generated for each incident photon. Microbolometers operate fundamentally differently, where electrical resistance in response to temperature changes. While most space thermal sensors today still use traditional materials, most terrestrial thermal cameras (night-vision, thermal drones) use microbolometers when imaging in LWIR.