Ireland gets little acknowledgement as a high tech hub so we can take pride in a Clonmel company EnBio which has produced Solar Black, a material which will protect the European Space Agency spacecraft Solar Orbiter from intense heat and radiation as it takes a look at the Sun's surface closer than ever thought possible.
The genesis of the story was when John O'Donoghue graduated as a mechanical engineer from UCD and worked for many years with companies specialising in medical devices. Having proven himself by upgrading a number of processes he studied the subject of Metal Surface protection and researched improvements to win his Masters.
John was clearly an entrepreneur as he staked his future on his invention which he named and patented CoBlast, and started up EnBio.
Supported by Enterprise Ireland his inventions were soon recognised by the ESA which approved the unique properties of two CoBlast products. One of these will protect the Solar Orbiter from exposure to the Sun's fierce radiation as it ventures closer than ever before.
In 201 received €1.5 million grant from the EU which funded a purpose-built facility in Clonmel.
Moving beyond the Solar challenge EnBio's innovations and know-how will reduce the use of environmentally damaging chemical treatments in the worldwide metal industry.
Meanwhile, John O'Donoghue is enjoying the sun at the NASA Space station waiting for next week's launch, one that would have been impossible without the protection of his CoBlast products from Clonmel.
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