Airbus has started construction of its Integrated Technology Centre (ITC), a €43m satellite hub being built on its Friedrichshafen site in southern Germany.

Friedrichshafen is the Airbus development centre for satellites, probes, instruments and equipment for Earth observation, navigation, meteorology and space exploration.

Plans call for the structure to be “enclosed” and interior work to begin in just six months. The centre is due to begin operations in late summer 2018. At full capacity, it will be possible to perform ingegration work on up to eight large satellites simultaneously.

At the heart of the four-storey centre, which will have a partial basement and a footprint of 4,250m², is a central clean room for development and construction activities. With dimensions of around 70m x 60m and a roof height of 20m, the building will expand the site’s current satellite integration capabilities.

The new complex will be designed to ensure more efficient and cost-effective project execution as well as offering new possibilities for future space projects.

The 2,000m² central integration hall will enable simultaneous construction of up to eight large satellites and integration of complex subsystems and payloads. This area can be operated in clean room classes ISO 5 to ISO 8 without the need for partitioning into separate rooms that is otherwise standard procedure.

The two other wings of the building will provide a further 1,000m² of integration and laboratory space for component manufacturing, along with a large visitor area and technical areas.

The high-tech ventilation system will enable particle reduction and help to prevent molecular contamination. The unique configuration of the ventilation system cuts operating costs by up to 70% compared to conventional system technology and enables clean room classes to be flexibly configured within the available space.