BiSon64-ET-B

The owner of the company, Johan Leijtens, has been interviewed for The Netherlands Space Agency. This article describes the importance of Sunsensors on satellites, the importance of quality over quantity and how proud we are as a company to be part of this important mission.

Productive talks at the 4S symposium So far the 4S Symposium -Small Satellites Systems and Services has been quite productive. Not too many contacts but a few very good ones that are expected to lead to future activities. Next to this a nice opportunity to talk to people like Martijn Geers who are otherwise always very busy coordinating new technology developments (like for our digital Sunsensor IBIS) but on location away from other appointments.

A small step for man, but a giant leap for Lens Research & Development. With 4S Symposium -Small Satellites Systems and Services at the doorstep it is time to announce that on 29th of May 2026 there will be a formal opening of the volume manufacturing facilities of Lens R&D B.V. (LRD) at PhotonFirst in Alkmaar. It will be a limited happening the day after SmallSat Europe that will mark a drastic increase in manufacturing volume that can be handled. Despite the strong optimisation for volume production, the current 5 person team at LRD is not capable of handling production rates of several hundreds of sensors per year without running the risk of affecting quality or overstressing the team. The technology transfer has been going on for over a year with gradually increasing series sizes and now both companies feel confident that a sustained production rate of at least 100 sensors per Month can be guaranteed if needed and further scaling is even possible without major issues. Come see Johan Leijtens at the symposium if you are interested to hear a bit more or contact Leendert-Jan Nijstad at Photonfirst.

Oh what a week. One would wonder, how can something be more exiting than contract negotiations for the European Space Agency - ESA LISA mission? Surprise surprise, it can be. On Friday, PhotonFirst (Michael Sieval) delivered a batch of prototype µIBIS sensors to SystematIC Design B.V. Testing has started, and hopefully Frank Stelwagen will notify us about good results of the first tests soon. Communication is working and some registers are responding to light, so at least something is working, but one can imagine that it takes some time to fully test the functionality of this small but complicated chip. The first issue of the ship was hampered by some small flaws that have hopefully been corrected with a metal fix. Therefore the new proto's have the metal fix and could potentially become the first radiation hardened true digital (albedo insensitive) Sunsensors in the world. I guess it is not just us having restless nights over this development as (when working) this development would not only put us at the top for analogue Sunsensor providers (as proven by the LISA contract) but would allow us to compete with every supplier in every field of Sun sensing. #highreliability #radhard #digital #Sunsensor

Both Suman Kasani and Johan Leijtens will be at the Amsterdam Space Symposium next week, with a brand new booth design driven by the European Space Agency - ESA #proba-3 and #LISA missions. If you are in the neighbourhood, please come and visit the Lens R&D B.V. booth

The holiday season has started! Because of our hard work, we were surprised today with a warm bathrobe and nice socks to make sure we have all the essentials to relax during the winter break. Thank you Sinterklaas!