Europe's largest satellite factory to be built in Belgium
Aerospacelab starts the construction of its new facilities. This new satellite manufacturing plant will be the first in Western Europe and the third largest in the world.
Belgian company Aerospacelab, founded in 2018 and voted Scale-Up of the Year 2022, has seen demand for the production of ever larger satellites accelerate. CEO Benoît Deper said the company decided to look for a larger site and finally chose its home region of Charleroi for its new factory.
Currently cramped in its Louvain-la-Neuve facility, Aerospacelab needs more space to meet the growing demand from its customers, which include major international space agencies, foreign governments and private players such as telecoms operators.
Now that building permission has been obtained, the actual construction phase can begin before the summer and is expected to last two years. The new 16,000 m² factory (9,000 m² of workshops and 7,000 m² of offices) will be built on the emblematic Acec site, once one of the epicentres of Charleroi's economic and industrial activity.
This new architecturally futuristic building will also be sustainable, with the main objectives being the reduction of energy needs, the use of renewable energy and efficient equipment for additional energy needs.
The new Aerospacelab facility will house 500 workers and produce 500 satellites per year, a welcome boost for the Belgian space industry.