DESIGN: CONSTRUCTION
 
 
What Materials Were Used to Build the SDC?
How Much Does it Cost to Build the SDC?
Who Paid for the Construction of the SDC?
How Big is the SDC?
 
       
 
 
What Materials Were Used to Build the SDC?
The detector assembly is made of something called PolyVinyliDine Fluoride film (PVDF). When PVDF is manufactured, it is polarized. This means all of the molecules in the material are aligned so that they are pointing in the same direction. This is gone into deeper detail in other parts of the site.
 
 
How Much Does it Cost to Build the SDC?
Total cost to design, build and test SDC was about $1 million. This figure does not include costs for Mission Ops.
 
 
Who Paid for the Construction of the SDC?
Funds for SDC came primarily from NASA's New Horizon budget, through both John's Hopkins' Applied Physics Lab which manages NH and Southwest Research Institute, where the PI Stern resides. In addition, LASP also contriubed in excess of several hundred thousand dollars to the effort.
 
 
How Big is the SDC?
The detector is 18" x 12". The electronics box, which is connected to the detector by the "intra-harness" (i.e. a wire) is 5.4" x 8.25" x 1.825".