Sodern

Sodern is a French company based in Limeil-Brévannes, near Paris in Ile-de-France, specialized in space instrumentation, optics and neutron analyzers. Its shareholders are ArianeGroup (90%) and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (10%). Sodern develops and produces instruments for space exploration missions or scientific programmes; satellite equipment; neutron generators and neutron interrogation tools. Since the 2000s, Sodern has participated in space exploration missions to Mars (NASA InSight, India Mars Orbiter, etc.), the moons of Jupiter (NASA Europa Clipper, ESA JUICE, etc.), Venus ( Japanese Mission "Planet C"), Ceres (NASA Dawn), the Moon, etc. It has developed high-tech scientific instruments including the heart of the PHARAO atomic clock, which should deviate by no more than one second every 300 million years, and will verify the effects predicted by the theory of general relativity. Sodern is one of the world leaders in the development and production of star trackers, instruments that allow satellites to position themselves in space, and neutron tubes. Called a "key actor" of national defense by French minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Sodern develops and produces the neutron sources for the French nuclear force, part of the payloads of the French military satellites dedicated to Earth observation, GPS-free positioning systems, etc. Franck Poirrier, CEO of Sodern, is the representative of the space equipment manufacturers within COSPACE (French Ministerial Committee of Space Coordination).