OHB SE
"We.Create.Space."
Bremen-based European space prime (XETRA: OHB) leading ESA's ClearSpace-1 debris-capture mission and builder of the ExoMars rover sample-handling system.
OHB SE is the listed parent company of the OHB group, one of the three largest space companies in Europe. The group traces its roots to Otto Hydraulik Bremen, a five-person hydraulics workshop in Bremen-Hemelingen that Christa Fuchs joined as a partner in 1981 and began running in 1982; Manfred Fuchs joined in 1985 and steered the business into space systems. OHB went public on 13 March 2001 on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt and today trades under the ticker OHB in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on Xetra, with the share included in the SDAX. The company states that it has around 4,000 employees in Europe and overseas and is headquartered at Manfred-Fuchs-Platz in Bremen. Its business is organised into three segments: Space Systems, Access to Space and Digital. Group companies include OHB System AG in Bremen and Oberpfaffenhofen, which carries out most of the satellite and robotics work, as well as subsidiaries such as OHB Italia, OHB Sweden and MT Aerospace.
OHB is best known as a satellite prime contractor, with programmes such as the Galileo navigation satellites, the SARah radar reconnaissance system, the Meteosat Third Generation weather satellites, EnMAP and the EDRS-C relay satellite. Alongside this, OHB System has worked on space robotics and mechatronics for more than two decades. Its robotics brochure groups this work into three areas: high-precision mechanisms for optical instruments, robotic systems for planetary exploration, and payloads and systems for orbital servicing and deorbiting. A company-wide robotics working group coordinates the roadmap across OHB's German and European sister companies.
The highest-profile current robotics programme is ESA's ClearSpace-1 active debris removal mission. On 23 April 2024 ESA's Space Safety Programme Board approved the next preparatory phase, and OHB SE took over leadership of the consortium. OHB provides the spacecraft and is responsible for system integration and launch. The Swiss start-up ClearSpace, which led the original contract, remains responsible for close-proximity operations and capture. The redesigned mission targets ESA's 94 kg PROBA-1 satellite and will use a four-armed capture system to grab it before both objects are deorbited. Launch on Vega C is currently planned for 2028.
In planetary exploration, OHB designed and developed the complete Sample Preparation and Distribution System (SPDS) inside the Pasteur analytical laboratory of ESA's Rosalind Franklin (ExoMars) rover. The SPDS takes core samples drilled from up to 2 m below the Martian surface and processes them autonomously. Its units include the Core Sample Handling System, a jaw-type Crushing Station, a powdered-sample dosing and distribution system, and a carousel of ovens and a refillable container serving the science instruments. The Core Sample Handling System was developed with HTS GmbH. For the German Space Agency, OHB also studied a four-wheeled sample-fetching rover, MPE, with active suspension and teleoperated or autonomous navigation, working with von Hoerner & Sulger and the DLR robotics institute.
OHB's orbital robotics heritage includes the ROKVISS robotic arm experiment. ROKVISS was developed by an OHB-led industrial team, installed on the outside of the International Space Station at the end of 2004 and operated for more than three years. OHB also supplied the robotic payload for the commercial SMART-OLEV life-extension concept and led the DEOS rendezvous and docking Phase B1 study. It led the Phase A and B1 studies for ESA's e.Deorbit mission to remove ENVISAT, which concluded that the target should be captured rigidly at its launch adapter ring. Concepts OHB has developed include a single-actuator gripper end effector for capturing satellites at their launch adapter ring, which tolerates ±5 degrees and ±20 mm of initial misalignment, and a berthing and docking system for servicing and deorbiting.
For the RobotToday directory, OHB is relevant as a European prime that integrates robotic capture, docking and sample-handling systems into full spacecraft and missions. It is not a supplier of standalone robot arms.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
ClearSpace-1
ESA active debris removal mission led by OHB SE since April 2024; a four-armed capture system will grab the 94 kg PROBA-1 satellite and deorbit it.
ExoMars Sample Preparation and Distribution System (SPDS)
Autonomous sample-handling system inside the Rosalind Franklin rover's Pasteur lab: core sample handling, crushing station, powder dosing and oven carousel.
ROKVISS robotic arm experiment
Robotic arm joint experiment developed by an OHB-led team, mounted outside the ISS at the end of 2004 and operated for more than three years.
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Contact OHB SE
WEBSITE
https://www.ohb.dePHONE
+49 421 2020 8HEADQUARTERS
Germany
Company Facts
Founded
1981
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Europe
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Public
Funding Total
-
