Bugs Away- Space Tech Uncovers Gassy Insect Signals

An answer to bed bug invasion has been developed for the hotel industry by a UK space technology company using know-how from the Rosetta space mission, the first spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with a comet, hurtling through space at 135,000 km per hour. Its ten year mission culminated in the landing on the comet of the mini laboratory Philae which contained 10 instruments developed by UK scientists, including Ptolemy, a gas analyser the size of a shoebox. Insect Research Systems Ltd has now used techniques developed through Ptolemy’s creation, to build a small, portable system that will quickly and cheaply detect the minute bodily gas emissions from bed bugs.

Taking advantage of the available technologies at the brand new Campus Technology Hub (CTH) in Cheshire, Insect Research Systems using advanced 3D printing to develop the prototype for its bespoke handheld detection monitor that will sniff out the chemical signatures of bed bugs in real-time. Taff Morgan, Chief Technical Officer and Co-Founder of Insect Research Systems said: “Thanks to the latest 3D printing capabilities, the excellent design input and technical support available at the Campus Technology Hub we have been able to optimise the design of our prototype and now have a product that we can demonstrate to future investors. This is extremely valuable to us in that we are developing our prototype significantly quicker and more cost effectively than through traditional routes.”

Part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Daresbury Laboratory and located at Sci-Tech Daresbury, the CTH is a major new facility which provides UK businesses, start-ups and particularly SME’s in the North West, with affordable access to more than £2million of advanced engineering technology, with particularly strong focus on 3D printing, to help them develop new products faster and cheaper.