The CCD was designed by the Semiconductor Technology Associates (STA) and manufactured by DALSA with funding from the Navy Small Business Innovation Research Program for the Astronomy Department of the U.S. Naval Observatory. The device will be used by the US Naval Observatory for projects involving the positions and motions of starts, solar system objects, and celestial reference frames.
STA President, Richard Bredthauer stated, 'As with past custom image sensor projects, I'm very satisfied with the versatility and capability of DALSA Semiconductor's foundry to collaborate on new process enhancements and to manufacture challenging custom CCD image sensor products such as this.'