Nov. 4, 2009 (Business Wire) -- Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:CY) today announced three of its state-of-the-art CMOS Image Sensors for space applications are on-board the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-2 Satellite, which was successfully launched on November 2. Cypress’s new HAS2 image sensor, specially designed for high accuracy star tracking, is implemented on a new Star Tracker developed by SELEX Galileo of Italy. The HAS2 image sensor is also being used in an extreme-ultraviolet telescope scientific experiment for solar corona observation. Additionally, Cypress’s STAR-250 image sensor is used on a new Digital Sun Sensor developed by TNO of the Netherlands. Both the HAS2 and STAR-250 devices were developed for the ESA by Cypress’s Image Sensor Business Unit in Belgium.

Cypress also announced commercial availability of the HAS2 image sensor, the latest development in the Cypress STAR family of radiation-tolerant image sensors. The device has an array of 1024 x 1024 active pixels (18 µm) and it supports on-chip Non-Destructive Readout and multiple windowing. The HAS2 sensor is qualified for space applications in accordance with the ESA’s European Space Components Coordination (ESCC) standards. Cypress will demonstrate its industry-leading custom and standard CMOS image sensor solutions at VISION 2009 in Stuttgart, Germany from November 3-5, in Hall 6, stand C 23. For more information on Cypress’s CMOS image sensors visit www.cypress.com/go/ImageSensors or email imagesensors@cypress.com.

“We are excited to see our new HAS2 image sensors in space on the Proba-2 satellite,” said Georges Hiltrop, general manager of Cypress’s Image Sensor Business Unit. “The HAS2 demonstrates Cypress’s ability to develop leading-performance CMOS image sensors that meet the requirements of our customers’ most challenging applications.”

Cypress’s radiation-tolerant STAR-250 image sensor was originally developed for an optical inter satellite link. Currently it is mainly used for sun sensor applications. The device has an array of 512 x 512 pixels (25 µm). STAR-250 is qualified for space applications in accordance with ESA’s ESCC standards and is commercially available.

Cypress is a center of expertise for the design of CMOS image sensors for space applications such as star tracking, hyper spectral instrumentation, earth observation, sun sensors and scientific applications. Its high-end CMOS image sensors have proven their performance on numerous European space missions, including: TeamSat, XMM, Mars Express, PROBA-1, ROCKVISS (ISS), Columbus and GOCE. In addition to ESA projects, Cypress has a number of CMOS image sensor projects for space applications with other space organizations.