News › Fraun­ho­fer IOF – Space optics from Jena

In sum­mer 2025, ESA will launch MTG-S1, a new wea­ther satel­lite that is set to revo­lu­tio­nize Euro­pe’s wea­ther fore­casts. On board: a high-pre­cis­ion dif­frac­tion gra­ting deve­lo­ped by Fraun­ho­fer IOF for the Sentinel‑4 spec­tro­me­ter, which mea­su­res air pol­lut­ants over Europe every hour. 

The spe­ci­ally manu­fac­tu­red reflec­tion gra­ting is based on laser pulse com­pres­sion tech­no­lo­gies and meets the hig­hest requi­re­ments in terms of reflec­ti­vity, disper­sion and sta­bi­lity. It is manu­fac­tu­red at Fraun­ho­fer IOF in a multi-stage nanos­truc­tu­ring pro­cess that com­bi­nes litho­gra­phy, ion etching and pre­cis­ion assembly. 

The com­po­nent was deve­lo­ped on behalf of Jena-Optro­nik GmbH and is an exam­ple of IOF’s many years of exper­tise in space-qua­li­fied optics – inclu­ding for ESA mis­si­ons such as FORUM and CO₂M.

Fur­ther infor­ma­tion: Link