Irish technology firm Enbio has won a €500,000 contract with the European Space Agency (ESA), allowing it to establish its first manufacturing facility.

The deal will see Enbio develop a surface treatment for use as a “sunscreen” that will help protect satellites in space.

Enbio’s manufacturing facility will be located at its headquarters at NovaUCD in Dublin. The company will use its CoBlas technology platform to produce “black” surfaces used on critical internal and external surfaces of satellites, to help cope with the intense solar radiation in space.

“This is a fantastic achievement not only for Enbio but also for Ireland’s high-tech manufacturing base,” Nigel Cobbe, vice-president, business development with Enbio said.

The technology could be used on components for the Solar Orbiter satellite mission to the sun in 2017.