Marlborough Firm Sees Into Space
PHOTO/COURTESY
New England Optical Systems' technology includes the infrared custom imager shown above.
Marlborough-based New England Optical Systems is aiming for the stars - literally.
Its infrared imaging system could help determine the origins of our galaxy when it is used in a new instrument to survey thousands of stars.
The company's spectrograph imaging assembly will be used on the Sloan 2.5-meter telescope at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico. It will be part of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment, which will survey the stars in the Milky Way.
The instrument uses infrared light to see past sky debris and interstellar dust to the stars.
"These projects are very interesting because you get to be a part of something you wouldn't normally see," said Greg Fitzgerald, one of three founders of New England Optical. "It's fun to be involved in a project that's using state-of-the-art technology and to see the application of that technology."
Growth Mode
Not bad for a company that is only 18 months old. It recently signed a lease for 7,500 square feet at 237 Cedar Hill St. in Marlborough. Previously, the company occupied only 1,200 square feet at 66 Brigham Rd., also in Marlborough.
The company will also be adding to its four employees next year and it needs additional space to produce its automated testing products.
"We felt the timing was right," Fitzgerald said. "We've located ourselves for five years, with room for future expansion, as well as the space we needed now to build and assemble our products."
Fitzgerald started the company with Ron Stern, who focuses on the business side and develops software for the products, as well as Todd Stolberg, a mechanical engineer who works on metal fabrication for the products.
The three men started the company in March 2008 after they saw that there were almost no companies that provided infrared lens assemblies and automated test machines, Fitzgerald said.
NEOS specializes in products that use short-wave and medium-wave infrared technology, and is a subcontractor to larger companies, Fitzgerald said.
Its automated testing systems are used by infrared instrument manufacturers to assess whether their products are working properly. Its lens assembly products are also used in military products.
He does expect that the company's products will soon be included in instruments that check for buried improvised explosive devices (IEDs). IEDs have a heat signature that is cooler than the surrounding earth and aerial surveillance using infrared technology could point out potential locations, he said.
"On the commercial side of applications for thermal imaging, as costs come down, it's exciting to see new ideas applied to a technology that's been around for several decades," Fitzgerald said.
Fitzgerald said the company's revenues are under $5 million, and projections put the company on track to be profitable by the end of the year.
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