Report: Luxembourg, an Up-And-Coming Space Industry
With the launch of its first Astra satellite in 1985, the Société européenne des satellites (SES) put Luxembourg on the map as a player within the aerospace industry. Shortly afterwards the country started acquiring expertise in the field of science materials which has since gained wide international recognition. These and other successful industrial efforts eventually led to Luxembourg’s admission, in June 2005, to the European Space Agency (ESA).
Luxembourg’s membership has been of great avail to local companies and research bodies as it helped open many doors abroad. Numerous innovative projects resulted from this new cooperation, including the development of solar-powered sails as part of ESA’s GeoSail initiative.
The national agency Luxinnovation is in charge of the administration’s activities to promote aeronautical and space technology. It is the focal point for the establishment of a space policy and for the initiatives the Government is taking in connection with ESA programmes. Luxinnovation is also leading Luxembourg’s efforts within the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7), in particular with regards to aeronautics and space.
A full member of the European Space Agency
The Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme is the backbone of ESA’s telecommunications activities. Five years into its collaboration as a cooperating country, Luxembourg became a full member of the European Space Agency in 2005.
The country has acquired essential know-how in space matters through its early international involvement in Intelsat, Eutelsat and Eurocontrol, as well as through its national space-related activities, in particular setting up the world’s pre-eminent satellite group SES. Relying on this knowledge and due to its full ESA membership, Luxembourg today is in a position to play a more active role in the European space industry.
More and more companies involved in aerospace activities
Bearing in mind the extremely high stakes involved in the aerospace business, Luxembourg players recognized early on the necessity to pool their competences. They joined forces in various structures both within and beyond the country’s borders.
This is how the Luxembourg Aeronautic and Space Industry (GLAE) association came into being. The initiative provides the participating companies and research organizations with the opportunity to bundle their specific needs and skills so they find themselves in a position to participate in ESA’s procurement processes and help shape policy decisions.
In 2003, the Government initiated the AeroSpace technology cluster whose purpose is to create industrial partnerships in the areas of aeronautic and space. This cluster, involving some forty companies, is raising awareness for the various ESA programmes and helping take part in the procurement processes of major European players (such as Airbus, Eurocopter, ESA…). In addition, it ensures a technology transfer between companies that are already active in the sector and those expecting to become a player in the near future.
GLAE and the AeroSpace cluster are closely collaborating to promote the aeronautical and space sectors.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of the major aerospace companies in Luxembourg:
- SES operates the leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite system in Europe, delivering services to more than 109 million DTH and cable households. The ASTRA satellite fleet currently consists of 13 satellites, transmitting 1,864 analogue and digital television and radio programmes. SES ASTRA also provides satellite-based multimedia, Internet and telecommunication services to companies, governments and their agencies. With 26 high definition (HD) channels available via its satellites today, SES ASTRA is also the most important HDTV broadcasting platform in Europe. Its subsidiary SES ASTRA TechCom builds on the technical expertise of the SES group, while offering consultancy and technical services worldwide.
- Euro-Composites is a company specialized in the field of composite materials for the aeronautic and space industry and as such an Airbus contractor. Its activities focus on support panels for solar arrays, heat exchanger panels and satellite structural parts.
- HITEC Luxembourg offers high-tech solutions covering different business areas, including satellite ground segment technology. In this area, the firm specializes in monitoring and control systems, and in designing and building fixed and transportable limited and full motion antennas for satellite communication.
- Air Liquide focuses its business on the definition, conception and production of embedded cryogenic equipment, as well as on the processing and analysis of flights.
- Luxspace builds space systems for satellites and probes focusing on system engineering, design and system integration for missions involved in earth observation, communication, navigation, science and exploration. The company is part of a consortium of European industrial partners working together on a futuristic solar-powered sails project.
Cross-border expertise and cooperation… for futuristic projects
Luxinnovation is participating in the Cross-Border Aerospace Cooperation project, launched in 2003, whose aim is to promote interregional collaboration in the fields of aeronautic and space. The agency is joined by public and private organizations from Luxembourg’s neighbouring countries for a collaborative venture that should allow participants to play a bigger role on the international market.
ESA has asked the partners from France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg (including Luxspace, public research centers Gabriel Lippmann and Henri Tudor, and DuPont de Nemours) to study and produce the materials required for the construction of a revolutionary new technology: solar-powered sails.
Solar-powered sails
Already in 1921, Polish scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, one of the forefathers of astronautics, put forward the potential of such spacecrafts. The idea is to use the pressure exerted by the flux of light particles, the so-called photons, of large sails to move around in space. “We will carry out research to find the right density of foil for the sails, to define the most reflective coating and to select the assembly method best adapted to the environment of outer space. There are also plans to develop, simulate and test a smaller version of the sails as a means of validating the concepts in question. This project has enabled the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Greater Region [which includes border areas in Germany, Belgium and France] to advance as the future maker of spacecraft sails for the European Space Agency”, says Jochen Harms, Luxspace’s managing director.
Small-satellites market
Today, Luxembourg is the third largest contributor to ARTES 11, a project dealing with the development of smaller, less expensive geostationary satellites which can be put to a much more varied use; so far, most attention was concentrated on bigger devices. An investment of some €10 million, representing 16% of the total budget, puts Luxembourg well above the 0.21% threshold which is required by mandatory programs. In 2006, ESA selected two Luxembourg companies to take part in its Galileo project: SES ASTRA TechCom and HITEC Luxembourg. Galileo is Europe’s initiative for a state-of-the-art global navigation satellite system for civilian applications. The Luxembourg partners are building two large telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) antenna systems to track the Galileo satellite fleet in orbit from the ground. In addition to the training of the personnel involved, their contribution involves the design, production, mechanical construction and installation of these two antennas at two separate sites (in Swedish Lapland and French Guiana).