For a space telescope, the detectors are an essential part and can often be a driver of both cost and schedule. It is therefore important that the requirements for the detector are identified early in the process so the procurement process can be started and the necessary development and testing schedule can be set up.

At the Open University, we have been developing and testing detectors for space missions for over 20 years in close collaboration with Teledyne e2v and can provide a lot of know-how to a space mission. This talk will give an overview of the detector technologies being developed at the moment, how they will fit in with different mission concepts and what testing is needed on the detector front for a mission to be successful.