OHB reserving capacity with Arianespace for satcom satellite

Bremen/Bonn, December 14, 2017. OHB System AG, a subsidiary of the Bremen-based space technology group OHB SE, has today signed a contract with the European launch services provider Arianespace for the launch of the Heinrich Hertz civil/military telecommunications satellite. In doing so, OHB has secured a flight opportunity on board an Ariane-5 launch vehicle.

Lift-off in four years

Heinrich Hertz will be transported to its geostationary orbit at around 36,000 km above the surface of the Earth on board an Ariane 5 in the 4th quarter of 2021. With a mass of 3.5 tons, the satellite will lift off from the European Kourou space center in French-Guyana. The launch contract was signed today with the Space Administration of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bonn. “We have in Arianespace a strong and reliable partner by our side,” says Dr. Dieter Birreck, who is in charge of the Heinrich Hertz project at OHB.

OHB lead-managing the Heinrich Hertz mission

OHB System AG was commissioned in summer 2017 by DLR Space Administration with the execution of this national satellite mission. “As the industrial prime contractor, we are responsible for implementing the entire mission including the satellite, the launcher and the related ground infrastructure. Our duties cover the development, assembly and verification of the telecommunications satellite as well as its launch and the preparation of in-orbit operations,” explains Dr. Birreck.

Named for the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, it is Germany’s first national satellite communications mission since the DFS Kopernikus program involving a satellite engineered and built in Germany. Heinrich Hertz thus marks a further step in Germany’s return to full system capabilities in telecommunications satellites in accordance with the German space strategy adopted in 2010. The Heinrich Hertz mission pursues two goals:

• Civil: In-orbit verification of new technologies. For this purpose, roughly one dozen new technologies for satellite communications will be tested on board the satellite and a number of scientific/technical experiments performed.
• Military: Communications for the German federal armed forces. A dedicated payload will secure the continued operational capability of the German federal armed forces.

“Heinrich Hertz comprises a number of different missions: For one thing, the DLR will be gaining a powerful platform for conducting important experiments in the field of satellite communications and, for another, the German Federal Ministry of Defense will have its own military segment of the payload providing satellite transmission capacities for the German federal armed forces on a long-term and future-proof basis,” said Marco Fuchs, Chief Executive Officer of OHB System AG, after signing the contract.

With a planned duration of 15 years, the mission has been initiated by DLR for the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in conjunction with the German Federal Ministry of Defense. Dr. Gerd Gruppe, a member of the DLR Space Administration board, has been accompanying the project since its earliest days: “When it is launched in 2021 on board an Ariane 5, the Heinrich Hertz mission will lay the foundations for securing future satellite communications. Once again, one of the most reliable carriers in the world is commissioned with the satellite launch. With this mission, Germany is demonstrating its core capabilities in payload and platform technologies for geostationary satellites at an international level, thus reinforcing its system capabilities in these areas.”