Astrium’s Acquisition Of Surrey Satellite Complete
EADS Astrium, Europe’s largest space company, has successfully acquired British satellite maker Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL).
SSTL got its start in 1985 as a spin-off from the University of Surrey, and became the world’s top manufacturer of small satellites, making low-cost platforms for Earth observation missions.Â
The deal, which was approved by the European Commission (EC), calls for Astrium to assume the majority the University of Surrey’s 85% stake in SSTL, which will keep its own management and brand identity.
"SSTL reached the point when we realized that if the company was going to continue to grow and to realize its full potential then it needed to have, essentially, richer parents than the university," Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, the executive chairman of SSTL, told BBC News.
"The university’s first obligation is to its students and not as a financier for industrial activities, for business. We realized we had to make the change. We invited offers and the best one we got was from EADS Astrium."
The EC found there would be no loss of competition by approving the acquisition. Indeed, the Guildford-based company will even be encouraged to compete for business against its new parent, something already happening in the sensitive bidding process for Europe’s upcoming Galileo satellite-navigation system.
SSTL supplied the system’s first test platform, Giove-A, while Astrium led the construction of the second demonstrator, Giove-B. Both firms must now bid on the main constellation of spacecraft.
Should SSTL be awarded he contract, it would work with OHB, based in Bremen, Germany.
Astrium’s and SSTL’s core businesses are mainly complementary, according to Sir Martin.
"We have a little bit of overlap in the middle… but Astrium concentrates on big satellites – that’s their speciality; we concentrate on small satellites. And it’s now actually having the ability to cover the whole spectrum from large down to the smaller satellites which is attractive to both Astrium and to SSTL," he told BBC News.
SSTL gained its reputation on its ability to provide small satellites at competitive prices. The company has worked closely with developing nations to provide them with access to space.
SSTL’s Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), a network of five satellites operated for the British, Turkish, Chinese, Algerian and Nigerian governments, offers rapid remote-sensing data.
The company is also intricately involved in a project to launch a “Moonlite mission” to send a British orbiter to the Moon. The mission would fire projectiles onto the Moon’s surface to learn more about its interior.
EADS Astrium employs roughly 12,000 people throughout Europe, and has a substantial presence at British centers in Stevenage and Portsmouth.
The company’s space division leads the production of Europe’s Ariane rocket, and is a leading force in spacecraft manufacturing, having made many of the large geostationary platforms that relay telephone, commercial TV and Internet services.
EADS was also prime contractor on Columbus, the European science lab attached to the International Space Station (ISS) last year, and the space freighter "Jules Verne", which re-supplies the ISS.
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