Sodern

Sodern is a French manufacturer of space optronic instruments and neutron-generation technology, headquartered in Limeil-Brévannes near Paris. Founded in 1962, the company is majority owned by ArianeGroup (90%), with the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) holding the remaining 10%. Sodern is one of the world's leading suppliers of star trackers, the optical sensors satellites use to determine their orientation by observing star fields; competitors in this market include Jena-Optronik of Germany and Leonardo of Italy, both already represented in this directory.

Its star tracker product line includes the SED16, SED26 and Hydra sensor families, alongside Earth sensors, solar sensors and other optronic instruments. The company states it has delivered more than 2,000 products that have accumulated over 40 million hours of in-orbit operation. Its hardware has flown on NASA's Dawn asteroid orbiter and InSight Mars lander, ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle resupply craft, the European SPOT Earth-observation satellites, Japan's Akatsuki (Planet-C) Venus orbiter and India's Mars Orbiter Mission.

Beyond star trackers, Sodern also produces neutron generators and tubes for materials analysis, nuclear, industrial and security applications, and operates a US subsidiary, Sodern America. Customers include NASA, ESA, Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space and JAXA. The company has also worked with Eutelsat and ArianeGroup on space-situational-awareness systems for European institutions.