CornercaseSolutions LLC

Cornercase Solutions LLC

Instrument and detector test engineering for spaceflight.

Cornercase Solutions is an independent consultancy for the testing and qualification of flight detectors and instruments, built on more than 25 years of work on programs including Roman, Hubble, Landsat, LISA Pathfinder, and Deep Impact.

Get in touch Capability statement

Cornercase Solutions LLC. Available for contract, subcontract, and consulting engagements.

Flight program heritage

  • Roman Space Telescope
  • Hubble WFC3
  • Hubble ACS Repair
  • LISA Pathfinder
  • Deep Impact
  • Landsat 8 OLI
  • WorldView-3
  • RELL
  • NEODaC

Scope of work

Hardware that has to work the first time, and the data to prove it will.

Flight detectors and instruments get one launch. The work below is the part that happens before it: planning the tests, building the equipment that runs them, executing the campaign, and reading the data honestly enough to catch the problem while it is still fixable.

Engagements
Contract, subcontract, consulting
Service area
Baltimore–Washington corridor, on-site or remote
Standard rate
$250/hr

  1. Detector and focal plane test

    Sensor chip assembly through focal plane module and focal plane array, tested at every level from ROIC wafer up, on flight hardware including the Roman focal plane array. Radiometric, spectral, and spatial characterization of infrared and visible detectors, with image analysis on the resulting data and validation of the automated calculations behind it.

    HgCdTe SWIRSi CCDSi PIN ROIC waferTeledyne H4RGRaytheon Astro2k

    Eighteen square infrared detectors in a stepped mosaic, each one iridescent blue and green, seated in a gold engineering test frame.
    Eighteen detectors mounted in an engineering test unit of the Roman Space Telescope focal plane array, June 2021. NASA/Chris Gunn. Public domain, cropped.

  2. Integration and test leadership

    Running the campaign, not just the console. Team leadership through flight hardware build, assembly, and environmental qualification and acceptance, including the team that built and tested the Roman focal plane array, then through integration into the instrument above it.

    I&T managementQualification AcceptanceTRR and PSR Responsible engineering authority

    The Wide Field Instrument, wrapped in silver thermal blanketing and suspended from a lifting fixture, held beside the strut work of the Roman payload structure, with technicians in clean room suits standing below it.
    Roman's Wide Field Instrument going into the payload at Goddard Space Flight Center, December 2024. This was the final step in completing the integrated payload. NASA/Chris Gunn. Public domain, cropped.

  3. Environmental test

    Thermal vacuum and electromagnetic interference and compatibility, at detector, instrument, spacecraft, and observatory level. Procedure authoring and execution, on the test floor and on the customer side of it.

    Thermal vacuumEMI and EMC Vacuum systemsCryogen handling Launch pad functional

  4. Ground support equipment and test planning

    Designing the equipment and writing the plans and procedures a campaign runs on, with test automation and instrument control, and cost and schedule ownership as a cost account manager.

    GSE designTest plans and procedures LabVIEWMATLABPython

  5. Instrument systems engineering and customer representation

    Acting as the technical eyes of the customer across distributed suppliers. On LISA Pathfinder that meant monitoring interferometer bench assembly in Scotland, instrument integration in Germany, and spacecraft environmental test at a third site, as the agency's focal point.

    Systems engineeringSupplier oversight Design reviewResponsible engineering authority

Note on attribution. The flight programs described above were supported as an employee or contractor of other organizations. They are not contracts performed by Cornercase Solutions LLC, and no endorsement by any agency, prime contractor, or program office is implied. The photographs are NASA public domain images, included to identify the hardware described. NASA does not endorse Cornercase Solutions LLC.

Skills

Tools, technologies, and disciplines.

Test and characterization

  • Sensor chip assembly, focal plane module, focal plane array
  • Radiometric, spectral, and spatial performance
  • Image analysis and data reduction
  • Validation of automated test calculations

Environmental test

  • Thermal vacuum
  • Electromagnetic interference and compatibility
  • Detector, instrument, spacecraft, and observatory level
  • Launch pad functional test

Program and team roles

  • Integration and test management
  • Responsible engineering authority
  • Cost account management
  • Customer technical representation
  • Test readiness and pre-shipment review

Detector technologies

  • HgCdTe short wave infrared Teledyne H4RG, Raytheon Astro2k
  • Silicon CCD
  • Silicon PIN High-speed digital output
  • Readout integrated circuits

Tools

  • LabVIEW
  • MATLAB
  • Python
  • FORTRAN
  • Test automation and instrument control

Engineering domains

  • Attitude dynamics and controls
  • Satellite design
  • Signals, systems, digital logic
  • Solid state physics, nanophotonics

Qualifications

  • United States citizen
  • Vacuum system operation
  • Cryogen handling
  • Radiometry and image analysis

Contact

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Messages go straight to the engineer who would do the work, not to an intake desk. If you are scoping work, the fastest reply comes from including:

  • The program or instrument, and where it is in its lifecycle
  • What you need covered, and roughly when
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  • Contract vehicle or subcontract arrangement, if one is set

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