Ultraviolet-optical charge-coupled devices for space instrumentation

We review the performance of charge-coupled detectors (CCDs) currently planned for space science instrumentation during the coming decade. With focal planes of up to a billion pixels, we discuss technical challenges in transferring this technology from ground-based to space imagers and identify areas for future development to facilitate these missions. The current capabilities of CCDs for UV imaging are also summarized and future directions for the development of CCDs suitable for wide field UV imaging are highlighted.