Glass from SCHOTT delivers brilliant extraterrestrial images of Comet Tschuri

The company supplied specialty glass that delivers spectacular images of the comet inside the panorama camera.Four out of five lenses installed in each of the seven objective lenses used in the CIVA camera system of the Philae lander were manufactured from two different types of radiation-resistant optical glasses from SCHOTT.



“Thanks to our radiation-resistant optical glass, ten years of exposure to cosmic radiation have not impaired the performance of our lenses. Our special lenses ensure that the image quality is still excellent even following the long flight into space. It is an honor for us that our high-performance glass is being used in this mission,” said Dr. Ralf Jedamzik, Principal Scientist at SCHOTT Advanced Optics. The lenses used in the panorama camera were designed and built by FISBA OPTIK from St. Gallen, Switzerland.



This isn’t the first time that SCHOTT glass has landed on another celestial body. Optical glass from Mainz was already on board the first manned lunar landing back in 1969. The television camera used on the moon contained a fourfold lens system that was manufactured using optical glass from SCHOTT.





First picture of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. 28 lenses made of radiation-resistant glass from SCHOTT are installed in the panorama camera system which took this picture. Photo: © ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA. Link: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/11/Welcome_to_a_comet

 

SCHOTT is an international technology group with 130 years of experience in the areas of specialty glasses and materials and advanced technologies. SCHOTT ranks number one in the world with many of its products. Its core markets are the household appliance, pharmaceutical, electronics, optics and transportation industries. The company is strongly committed to contributing to its customers’ success and making SCHOTT an important part of people’s lives with high-quality products and intelligent solutions. SCHOTT is committed to managing its business in a sustainable manner and supporting its employees, society and the environment. The SCHOTT Group maintains close proximity to its customers with manufacturing and sales units in 35 countries. Its workforce of 15,400 employees generated worldwide sales of 1.84 billion euros for the 2012/2013 fiscal year. SCHOTT AG, with its headquarters in Mainz (Germany) is owned by the Carl Zeiss Foundation.