industry news 7
lasers assist exoMars mission
LML is also part of the
XGEN consortium, which was
established in 2007 and
Laser micromachining, from are proud to say that through the has our technology produced the consists of three Welsh Micro/
expertise based in Wales, UK, expertise and world-class facilities strongest accuracies demanded in Nanotechnology Centres of
is playing a crucial role in the here at LML we have delivered what space projects, but we have proven expertise. XGEN is a Welsh
European Space Agency’s ExoMars many thought was not possible, that laser micromachining is here, Assembly Government initiative
mission. and the detectors are being tested it can work and has the potential to designed to ensure industry has
Laser Micromachining (LML), as we speak,’ said LML general be the number one technology of open access to state-of-the-art
based at St Asaph’s Technium manager Dr Nadeem Rizvi. ‘Not only the future.’ facilities and equipment.
OpTIC, is using its laser
micromachining expertise to
produce a critical element that
will help measure the wind speed
and direction on the dusty red
planet. The anemometer, as the
instrument is better known, is set
to be housed on the robotic rover
vehicle on the ExoMars mission set
to launch in 2016.
ExoMars is a European-led space
www.spectroscopy-bfioptilas.com
exploration mission, currently under
development by the European
Space Agency (ESA), that will send
a robotic rover vehicle to the surface
of Mars. The mission will search
for signs for life on Mars, survey
the Martian terrain and study the
interior make-up of the red planet.
Data from the mission should
provide valuable input for broader
studies of exobiology (the study of
organisms originating from outside
Compact Spectrometers Miniature Fourier
of Earth) as well as the search for
Transform Spectrometers
Raman & Portable Raman
life on other planets.
The anemometer, one of the
scientific instruments used to
gather data on the robotic rover,
requires a small rod of glass
coated with a very thin layer of
platinum (about a one thousandth
of the thickness of a human hair).
om
By using its laser micromachining
technology, LML has developed
Photometry & Colorimetry
a way of producing the very fine
Monochromators & Spectrometers
ooptics.c
patterns on the platinum-coated
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rod which can essentially create
a miniature electrical circuit. By
European Spectral
www

connecting sensitive electronics to
this platinum circuit and measuring
Analysis Specialist
ch 2009
the response of this device it
is then possible to detect the
strength and direction of the wind.
‘The major challenge was f
ebruary/mar

to produce extremely fine and
info@bfioptilas.com
accurate patterns, as small as two Benelux-France-Germany-Italy-Spain-Nordics-UK
o
optics
hundredths of a millimetre, over
Please contact your local office for Free DEMO
the surface of a circular rod. We
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EOfeb09 pp04-07 news.indd 7 17/2/09 16:35:09
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