Skipper CCDs in Space for NASA Science

• Emily Kan (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)
• Bernard Rauscher (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Room: WH2SW Skipper CCDs simultaneously achieve almost noiseless single photon detection, ultra-low dark current, and excellent red QE. Compared to conventional n-channel Skippers, modern p-channel Skippers (hereafter “Skipper”) are radiation tolerant. Moreover, they operate at temperatures that are readily achievable in space. These characteristics make Skippers very attractive to NASA science. We briefly describe one potential NASA science application: the search for habitable exoplanets. We then discuss some of the Skipper enhancements and readout system work (including Goddard’s ACADIA ASIC) that are needed to enable this. Compared to ground-based use, radiation bombards detectors in space. If time permits, we may discuss some of the unexpected (by us) radiation effects that JWST is seeing with its HgCdTe near-infrared array detectors.