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THE BOTTOM LINE OHB’s Fuchs sees a big market for space rockets that
carry small payloads. The company is building a minilauncher to compete
with those made by SpaceX, Boeing, and others.hadlefthome—boughta smallship-maintenance
business.Togetherwithherlatehusband,Manfred,an
experiencedaerospaceengineerworkingfora pre-
decessorofAirbusSE,shetransformedthecompany
intoa builderofsatellitesjustasdemandpickedupfor
orbitaldatatransmission.
Today,Marco,57,steersthecompanyfromanunas-
sumingofficebuildingontheoutskirtsofBremen,
locatedona squarenamedafterhisfather.Inhermet-
icallysealedhalls,dozensofworkersassemblesat-
ellitesformissionsrangingfromcollectingweather
datatomilitaryreconnaissance.Sevenhourssouthof
Bremen,ata companyfacilityinthecityofAugsburg,
about 50 employees are working on aso-called
minilauncherdesignedtobringpayloadsweighing
asmuchas 200 kilograms(441pounds)intoorbit—
enoughforperhapsdozensofa newergenerationof
tinysatellites.
Since1957,whentheSovietssentthefirst-ever
satellite,Sputnik, intospace,theorbitaroundEarth
hasbecomepopulatedwiththousandsof artificial
objects.About 450 werelaunchedlastyear,fourtimes
asmanyasa decadeearlier,accordingtotheUnited
NationsOfficeforOuterSpaceAffairs,andthatnum-
berispoisedtoclimbrapidlywitha surgeofbroad-
banddatatransmission.SpaceXaloneis planningto
launch12,000satellitesinthenextsevenyearsforits
Starlinkconstellation.
Atabout$6.2billioninannualrevenue,thesat-
ellitelaunchindustryislessthana thirdthesizeof
thesatellitemanufacturingmarket,butit’sgrowing
faster, up 34% last year, according to the Satellite
Industry Association. Satellites range in size from the
International Space Station, which weighs as much as
a jumbo jet, to weather satellites, more like an eleva-
tor’s weight. Some recent models have included tiny
satellites no larger than a milk carton that are typically
usedforEarthobservationmissions.Micro-andnano-
satellites weighing less than 50kg will make up the bulk
of future payloads.
With a maiden flight about two years away, OHB is
exploring sites in Europe for launches, including the
Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as possible
spaceports in Scotland, Sweden, and Norway. Fuchs
says he’s interested in a possible site in Germany to
reduce transport costs. No matter where OHB’s rockets
will eventually lift off, Fuchs is optimistic that he’ll play a
role in the space race. “People used to think that only
NASA can do this sort of stuff,” he says, “but rocket sci-
ence has been demystified.” �David VerbeekAerospace
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