Galway-made device heading to space on ESA satellite mission
Tomás Flanagan. Image: ÉireComposites
ÉireComposites will create carbon-fibre stray light baffles for the ESA Altius satellite, which is expected to launch in 2023.
An Irish manufacturing company will produce an instrument for a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite that will assist climate research.
Galway-based ÉireComposites has today (1 March) announced an agreement with Belgian company OIP Sensor Systems to design and manufacture three carbon-fibre stray light baffles for the ESA’s Altius satellite.
These devices will prevent out-of-field stray light from reaching the lenses of the satellite’s optical instruments. Stray light baffles rely on highly controlled and precise manufacturing and finishing.
Air Vice-Marshal Harv Smyth, a former fighter pilot, never imagined as a 16-year-old from Northern Ireland that his career path with the RAF would lead him to the coolest job in the world and a hotline to No 10. Yes, people often say I have the coolest job title in the world, said Air Vice-Marshal Harv Smyth CB, OBE, DFC, Director Space UK MoD.
Having become the first person to hold the newly-created position almost a year ago, it has been quite the career journey for a young lad from Lurgan and he accepts the title with typical good grace, pride and more than an air of humility.
Last year, as Elon Musk s SpaceX soared through the Earth s orbit and into space, an Irish company s technology was ready and waiting to play a mission-critical role. Dublin-based Skytek s IPV Tablet system was used to provide advanced astronaut support on the International Space Station (ISS). With the system, astronauts had access to more than 14,000 operational procedures, which support all operational activities on board.
When the SpaceX Dragon capsule docked to the station, the astronauts on board could use IPV procedures to support the safe operation of the capsule with onboard systems. It s always exciting, said Sarah Bourke, chief executive of Skytek, regarding the company s technology playing a role in such space missions.