Yorkshire firm’s role in helping to protect our planet

SPACE may be the final frontier, but it holds no terrors for a Yorkshire manufacturing firm which is doing its bit to help protect millions of people from floods and a host of other natural disasters.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Sep 2013, 09:32 BST
The Sentinel2 satelliteThe Sentinel2 satellite
The Sentinel2 satellite

When the European weather satellite – known as Sentinel-2A – is launched soon, it will contain a part manufactured by B-Tek Precision, a small business based in Leeds. Sentinel-2A will be used by scientists to spot potential tsunamis, and identify rivers that might be in danger of breaking their banks.

The part was manufactured by B-Tek for Warrington-based ESR Technology, which operates the European Space Tribology Laboratory, the European Space Agency’s centre for excellence for space tribology – the science of friction, lubrication and wear in bearings and other space mechanisms.

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Yesterday, B-Tek revealed it had acquired the Gloucester-based company Excel Precision, as part of its growth strategy. B-Tek is a provider of electrical discharge machinery services. This is a process by which electrical sparks are used to erode metal, unlike traditional machinery which uses mechanical force.

B-Tek, which has £1.75m turnover and 18 staff, uses the process to provide parts for aerospace, oil and gas, motor sport, nuclear and medical industries.

Related topics:YorkshireWarringtonLeeds