COVID-19: An update from our MD

By Lewis Brown on March 27th, 2020

Hello,

I would like to share with you the way in which Atik are responding to the current situation.

Last week we posted the above video showing the new production facility we have in Lisbon, Portugal. Rui Tripa (our production manager) mentions during his tour that we make cameras to go into equipment that are used in Labs and Hospitals. In fact every day 1000’s of virus tests are completed round the world using equipment with Atik cameras inside. This is something we are immensely proud of. Demand for new equipment has of course increase and we are currently prioritising production for our customers in research or diagnostic applications and are working at capacity. Rui and his team have done a fantastic job to put equipment and procedures in place to allow this production to continue within guidelines.

In our UK offices we have most people working from home with a skeleton staff keeping the core of our business functioning. Indeed it’s so strange to see a normally packed building so quiet.

Of course this has some knock on effects for our astronomers. We have had to stop our development and production of the upcoming CosMOS camera as we just don’t have the capacity to bring a new product to market at the moment. Better news is that we still have high levels of stocks of our existing range including the Horizon II, Atik 460ex, and Atik One cameras.

Astronomy and astroimaging are one of the hobbies that can still be enjoyed with the current restrictions. Not being able to travel to dark skies need not be an issue, rather a reason to try narrow band imaging. We do have a full range of filters available for use with our cameras. Vince, Andrew and myself will keep monitoring our forum, emails and social media channels so please stay in touch. Also Chris is working on a significant update to our Dusk software and Amy plans to have the Atik imaging competition open shortly.

It’s a difficult time but one in which is important to look to the positives. Stay safe, appreciate the skies, and enjoy life.

Steve Chambers, Managing Director