High-tech jigsaw puzzles
Berlin Space Technologies produces satellite construction kits
Exactly 6,768 parts—neatly packed in 60 boxes and meticulously labelled—made the journey from Berlin to far-away Egypt a few weeks ago. “Our customers will use them to build an Earth observation satellite,” says Tom Segert. This type of high-tech jigsaw puzzle is the business model of Berlin Space Technologies GmbH, or BST, which Tom Segert founded together with Matthias Buhl and Björn Danziger in 2010. They now have 42 employees and count themselves among the founding members of the German “new space” industry.
“We launched our mission to build small satellites and subsystems as simply and cheaply as possible,” says Tom Segert. To understand the challenges behind this, it is important to know how satellites are usually built: individually manufactured, with specially designed equipment, and components certified for use in space. This pushes up prices and creates a major hurdle for travelling into space. For this reason, universities and space agencies from emerging countries have the odds stacked against them.
This is where the “new space” philosophy comes into play. "At university, we never had a big budget for special space processors," says the aerospace engineer, thinking back. “We had to improvise.” This still works today. Wherever possible, BST satellites use conventional electronics. Instead of mounting these on a “satellite rotation unit” that costs hundreds of thousands of euros, they use a bogie for cars. BST also thinks outside the box when it comes to distribution. Customers do not receive a complete satellite but a construction kit, including a manual and competent support.
“Before the pandemic, we used to send a team to look over our customers shoulder while they assembled the satellite,” says Tom Segert. “Now we use video conferencing.” Not being on location while 6,768 components are assembled into satellite was a bit of an adjustment, he admits laughingly: “It was there that we realised how important it is to have a detailed and, at the same time, easily understandable manual.”
Their customers are based in Egypt, Turkey, or Singapore. A while ago now, BST decided to move a little closer to them. “We now have a factory in India,” says Tom Segert proudly. "Together with our partners at Azista Aerospace, we will soon be able to assemble a little more than 250 satellites there.” Wherever we see a profitable target market opening up, the aerospace engineer says, BST will consider moving final assembly there. "Next in line is a factory in the United States. It is planned to set it up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, next year.”
But until then, they will first have to haul moving boxes around Berlin. “We started off here at the start-up incubator in Adlershof and should have moved out in 2020,” he says. “But then the pandemic happened. The whole world went into shock, and we got a grace period.” The search for a new headquarters is running at full steam. “We are looking for a factory and office space for labs and administration in or around Berlin, and, of course, in Adlershof, too,” says Tom Segert. They are planning to move into their new German headquarters before the end of the year. “There we will continue to develop new products and build prototypes.” They will be disassembled into thousands of individual components, meticulously labelled, and neatly packed for their journey into the wide world.
By Kai Dürfeld for Adlershof Journal