CCDs and camera electronics for the NASA CONTOUR mission

This paper addresses the imager designs for an upcoming NASA mission to examine comets at distances from the sun fairly similar to that of the earth. The general constraints oil design typical to a small spacecraft such as low mass and operation in vacuum apply. In addition the transient nature of the data which are presented as the spacecraft moves by the comet at high speed must be considered. Two imagers with different tasks to perform will be flown on this mission. Design choices for electronics and selection of charge coupled device image sensors are discussed. Some early results from breadboard tests are presented.