E2V.L Regulatory News (E2V)

12 Jul 2006 07:00

e2v technologies PLC12 July 2006 e2v technologies plc wins £4m image sensor contract The contract, worth £4.0m (€5.6m), is for the design and supply of image sensorsfor the European Space Agency's Gaia mission e2v technologies plc, a specialist developer and manufacturer of high technologycomponents and sub-systems, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a£4.0m (€5.6m) flight phase contract to supply ESA (European Space Agency) withCCD (charge coupled device) image sensors for the primary scientific instrumenton the astronomical satellite, Gaia. This contract win follows the earlier contracts worth a total of £10.9m(€16.3m), as advised in June 2005. This latest contract, due for delivery in July 2007, and awarded by EADSAstrium, who, on 11 May 2006, was officially awarded the contract by theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) to develop and build the Gaia satellite, representsa take up of a part of the identified further option to purchase additionalflight grade sensors. There remain options to supply up to a further £3.4m (€5m)of flight grade sensors for this programme. Scheduled for launch in 2011, Gaia aims to map our galaxy, the Milky Way, bylogging the 1 billion stars and over 100,000 objects in our solar system,creating the largest, most accurate 3D map of the galaxy to date. The sky willbe continually scanned for at least five years. It is anticipated that as manyas 10,000 planets around other stars may be discovered. Destined for Gaia'sAstro Filter (AF) instrument, the new CCDs will form part of Gaia's 1,000million pixel focal plane, which will be the largest focal plane ever flown inspace, measuring in at half a square metre in size. Keith Attwood Chief Executive of e2v said: "The award of this anticipated contract confirms e2v's position as a worldleader in the supply of high specification imaging sensors into space andastronomy programmes. "In the announcement of our preliminary results we highlighted the strength ofour order book and this win is an excellent example of how we are realising thisthrough our team's skill in designing, manufacturing and supporting such aprestigious space programme." - ends - Enquiries: e2v technologies plc Keith Attwood, Chief Executive Tel: 01245 493493Mike Hannant, Finance Director Website: www.e2v.com Gavin Anderson & Company Keith Brookbank/Charlotte Stone Tel: 0207 554 1400 e2v technologies plc e2v technologies delivers the radio frequency and sensing technology thatenables some of the world's most innovative medical and science, aerospace anddefence, and industrial and commercial systems. For the year ended 31 March2006, e2v achieved sales of £112m. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange(e2v.l). e2v is a leading developer and manufacturer of high-technology electroniccomponents and subsystems, which it supplies into three core areas: • Medical & Science: Sensor technology includes Dental X-ray, Mammography, life science applications and X-ray microscopy. Electronic Tubes are the enabling technology behind radiotherapy cancer treatments, microwave medical therapy and high-energy physics. • Aerospace & Defence: Sensor technology includes military surveillance, targeting and guidance; space-based imaging and astronomy and radar & electronic warfare. Electronic tubes provide the enabling technology behind radars, electronic countermeasures (ECM), electronic warfare and satellite communications. • Commercial & Industrial: Sensor technology includes marine radars, industrial safety sensors, automotive radars and alarms and thermal imaging cameras used by fire fighters. Electronic tubes provide enabling technology behind TV broadcast, satellite communications, marine radar and food & industrial processing. In 2006 e2v won a Queen's award for Enterprise, granted in the Innovationcategory, for its L3Vision(TM)imaging sensors and cameras used in aerospace,medical and scientific imaging systems. e2v has 1,300 employees worldwide with offices in UK, USA, Germany, France,Canada and a presence in China through the China Britain Business Council, aswell as a network of distributors covering other key territories. Further information on e2v technologies plc is available from its website,www.e2v.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange