Safran Data Systems inaugurated, Tuesday, October 12, the extension of its center of engineering and production of satellite antennas and flight tests to Teste-de-Buch, in Gironde.
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The first stone had been laid in February 2020. Now exit of land, the extension of the engineering center and production of satellite antennas and flight tests from SAFRAN DATA SYSTEMS, to Teste-de-Buch (Gironde), was inaugurated, Tuesday, October 12th.
Created in 1981, this cluster – which originally had ten employees, then double in 2001 – employs nearly 160 people today. The surface of the facilities more than doubled, to reach the 6,850 m 2 . They will allow him to produce a hundred parabolic antennas within eighteen months to meet the growing demand of the space domain due to the multiplication of programs of many start-ups in the United States and Europe.
With the revolution of the “New Space”, this movement related to the appearance of a private initiative industry, its order book increased by 20% in five years, its customers in Europe, United States and Asia. “This” New Space “, no one knows exactly what it is”, observes Jean-Marie Bétermier, President of Safran Data Systems.
“Great Opportunities”
“Today, on many of our spatial entities, we find ourselves with new customer names that we did not know four years ago. If the technology is ready, they will want to go fast. To a When there were big operators like Airbus, Thales or Boeing. Now there are some twenty people who are credible, “he continues.
The Girondine branch of the French company has identified more than one hundred projects with investors who wish to get involved in the spatial. According to Mr. Bétermier, it is obvious that “Everyone is not going to go, but it gives great opportunities for an equipment manufacturer to organize his offer”. “These new projects will help us make growth goals and, of course, we want to be in these constellation markets.”
To cope with the growth of Safran Data Systems, which has been an annual increase of 6% for more eight years, a new organization has emerged, that of the “space management”, entrusted to Jean-Marie Bétermier . Proof of continuous group development, at the entrance of the engineering center, a 9.30 meters high satellite has been installed. In the two months, he will leave the site for NASA, one of the many clients of the group.