Belgium looks to build 500 satellites per year
June 16, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Wallonia-based Aerospacelab, based in Charleroi, is building a 16,000 sq m factory with the aim of ramping up satellite production to 500 units per year.
The new production line will focus on communications and Earth observation craft and is being built with backing from Charleroi’s Venture Capital Sambrinvest.
The company raised €11 million in 2019 and a further €40 million earlier this year and says it is well-funded for the time being.
The company is a member of the European Commission’s New Symphonie consortia and seeking EC backing for a European low-orbit broadband constellation.
Aerospacelab has already booked capacity on upcoming SpaceX ‘Transporter’ rocket launches (Transporter 8, 9 booked for 2023 and 10 possibly in 2023).
The company says it has used as a model the Florida production facility build by a joint-venture comprising Airbus and OneWeb.
While its current output has tended to be on smaller satellites (up to 150 kgs) the company says it has ambitions for much larger spacecraft of between 500-1000 kgs.