Pocket-Sized German Satellite Maker Shoots for Stars
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Holding its own against aerospace giants like pan-European Airbus Space or French-Italian Thales Alenia, German minnow OHB has carved out a space as a national champion in satellite building.
Its latest coup was claiming a hefty slice of business from contracts signed in early July by the European Space Agency (ESA) as it builds up its Earth observation programme known as Copernicus.
Among the six new satellites, an OHB-built orbiter will keep an eye on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions stemming from human activity over the coming decades.
The aim: offering policymakers the data they need to find ways of reducing greenhouse gas output.
"Some space missions are mostly relevant to science. At OHB, we like projects that help people in their everyday lives," chief executive Marco Fuchs told AFP.
Thales Alenia may have secured the lion's share of ESA orders this time around, but OHB is "ideally positioned" to play a role in "permanent observation of the Earth in environmental, climate and security terms", Fuchs said.
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