For over 45 years, OHB subsidiary MT Mechatronics GmbH has been making a name for itself around the world as an engineering expert and contractor general for antennae and telescopes as well as in medical technology. One of its most outstanding recent products in the medical technology segment was the world’s first heavy ion gantry (Gantry 700t), which was completed for customer HIT (Heidelberg Ion Radiation Therapy Center) in 2007. Ion radiation can be used with high precision to treat patients with tumors deep in their bodies. Gantries are part of the next generation of radiation devices and provide MT Mechatronics with a good stepping stone for harnessing opportunities in the medical technology market.

MT Mechatronics is currently assembling a radio telescope in the South of Sardinia. With a diameter of 64 meters, it will be fitted with steering systems by MT Mechatronics, which will also be responsible for calibrating and putting it into operation.   As well as this, MT Mechatronics is playing a key role in the production of the European part of the international ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array – United States/Japan/Europe), which comprises 64 individual antennae with a diameter of 12 meters located in the Atacama desert in Chile at an altitude of 5,000 meters above sea level. In addition to supplying parts, MT Mechatronics is responsible for the full turn-key assembly of the European part of the facility in Chile. MT Mechatronics is also playing a key role in the early development phase for the next generation of gigantic optical telescopes, the ELT (Extremely Large Telescope), with a diameter of 42 meters and is developing concepts and conducting feasibility studies.