OHB Czechspace s.r.o. commencing business operations in the Czech Republic

Bremen/Brno, November 9, 2018. This month, OHB Czechspace s.r.o., a subsidiary of the space and technology group OHB SE, has commenced operations at its new offices in Brno, Czech Republic. The company will be assembling an engineering team at its Brno site, initially concentrating on structural analysis and design services, systems engineering and structural hardware procurement. Czechspace already expects to receive preliminary orders this month. OHB engineer Ariane Wyen has been appointed Managing Director of OHB Czechspace.

She is an aerospace engineer with a degree in aerospace systems and mechanics, which she gained from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, in 2012. She was a participant in the University of Kansas Master’s Program in Astronautics. Her diploma thesis received awards from DGLR (German Society for Aerospace) and the University of Stuttgart.

Wyen joined OHB in Bremen in 2012, where she was responsible for the development and verification of structural subsystems and was in charge of the Heinrich Hertz and SARah satellite projects. Wyen ranked among the top three finalists in the Engineer Powerwomen Award Germany 2018.

OHB Czechspace: initially assembling an engineering team

The space technology company’s business model focuses on services for third parties and OHB Group companies as well as on its own engineering and production projects. The first step is to assemble a qualified engineering team addressing all key fields of systemic space flight. The Brno-based team is to be enlarged from five to 20 - 25 by the end of 2020. 

In addition, the OHB Group is currently determining what production and assembly capabilities are to be performed for the entire Group in the Czech Republic. In a second step, OHB Czechspace intends to set up an operating facility for this purpose at its original location in Klatovy. The company will be working closely with Aerotech Czech in Klatovy, in which OHB holds an interest. This company is responsible for the Czech share in the Ariane 6 launcher.

“I am very delighted that we are now also completing our long-planned foray into the Czech Republic with our satellite expertise in addition to our contribution to Ariane 6 production and that we are taking this step with a highly qualified and motivated young woman who will be managing the company. With Mrs. Wyen, we are entrusting one of our best with responsibility for the new company. She will be using her experience to ensure that our Czech subsidiary also lives up to the “made by OHB” quality standard” says Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB SE. 

"We are not interested in setting up an extended workbench, a branch office or a sales office. After joining ESA ten years ago, the Czech government has set clear signals that it plans to evolve into one of the new players in European space policy. With our new company we want to play an important role in the implementation of this policy and act as a fair partner to the highly qualified small and mid-size space companies based in this country as well as being a valuable supporter for the high-quality space research being performed by the Czech universities”, says the new managing director Ariane Wyen.