908 Devices, a pioneer of purpose-built analytical devices for chemical analysis, today announced that the National Capital Region’s Hazardous Materials Committee has purchased nine of the Company’s flagship award-winning product, M908- the world’s first and only handheld mass spectrometer for downrange threat detection and identification. The addition of M908 replaces older, technologically obsolete, mass spectrometers that were no longer being utilized by the response teams with an innovative technology that is user friendly and inexpensive to maintain.
As today’s threat landscape continues to change, the National Capital Region’s Hazardous Materials Committee is dedicated to equipping their teams with new technologies that will better prepare them for future incidents. The addition of M908 to the region’s Type 1 Hazardous Materials Response Teams’ responder toolkits improves their ability to protect citizens, visitors, historic sites and government facilities within the region.
“The level of extremist activity both domestically and abroad continues to grow, and there is an ever-increasing need for new technology to protect communities and first responders,” said Dr. Kevin J. Knopp, CEO and co-founder, 908 Devices. “New devices like M908 fill the gaps that exist in today’s response missions, improving situational awareness, which is key to reaction time and threat neutralization. As a result, first responders are better prepared to protect the communities they serve.”
Throughout the Washington, D.C. area, Type 1 Hazardous Materials Response Teams respond to all incidents involving the release of hazardous materials. Previously, teams were leveraging transportable mass spectrometers (MS) to perform chemical analysis; however, these systems were large, fragile and complex, resulting in limited deployment. M908 will support the response mission by decreasing the time necessary to detect and identify unknown chemicals while increasing the reliability of the results. M908 also adds trace detection capability, an application that other identification technologies currently carried by each team cannot perform.
“The need for more diverse technology in the field is being driven by the increased risk and varying degrees of CBRNE threats that require immediate and accurate detection,” said John Kenneweg, Vice President, 908 Devices. “The powerful capabilities of M908 provide the speed, power and fidelity required for today’s first responders, civilian support teams and military at the point of need.”
M908 is powered by high-pressure mass spectrometry (HPMS) to deliver the selectivity and sensitivity to detect priority threats with high confidence and extremely low false alarm rates. It is currently being used by state, local, federal and foreign government agencies, as well as civilian and military organizations worldwide for CBRNE threat detection and HazMat response.