Habitable Worlds Observatory Detector

Prototypes and development

The public contract concerns the production of a prototype, or supply of other novel goods or services, for the purpose of—

(a) testing the suitability of the goods or services,

(c) other research, experiment, study or development.

Single suppliers

The following conditions are met in relation to the public contract—

(a) due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and

(b) there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.

The Open University (OU) has been awarded research grant funding via the UK Space Agency (UKSA) for the NASA Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) mission. For this, bespoke CIS300 series UVIS detectors from Teledyne e2v Ltd need to be procured along with associated test equipment for space qualification and radiation effect testing.

These specific detectors were initially procured as part of an earlier phase of work for the Canadian Space Agency's Cosmological Advanced Survey Telescope for Optical and UV Research (CASTOR) mission. The work of the current and future planned phases for the HWO mission is a continuation of the work initially completed for the Canadian CASTOR mission which was testing the same technology. The OU’s continued inclusion in the HWO mission was subject to funding awarded by the UKSA and they have agreed to increase funding (FY26-27) for the OU to procure more Teledyne-e2v CIS300 detectors and test equipment for the mission.

The funding agency’s request is specifically for the OU to continue the testing of this specific detector. As this is a continuation of work already being undertaken and it is specific equipment, it is not possible to procure the necessary items from any supplier other than Teledyne e2v Ltd.

The project is split into two stages.

Stage 1 is for existing detectors to be back thinned and made ready for packaging, and testing for future space missions, specifically HWO. It is planned for 01/09/2026 – 31/03/2027 with a value of £702,000 including VAT and is confirmed.

Stage 2 would be a larger project to use the outcome of the testing from stage 1 to make changes to the design of the detectors. Following this, the newly designed detectors would be manufactured, back thinned, surface coated and packaged. It is provisionally planned for 01/04/2027 – 31/03/2030 with an estimated value of £1,902,000 including VAT and is subject to funding and the successful completion of stage 1.