A small part from Baden-Württemberg flies exactly 593 kilometers above the earth: Membrane bellows from Witzenmann GmbH in Pforzheim are installed in the Hubble space telescope, where they serve as flexible sealing elements. The company, which is primarily known as an automotive supplier and manufactures, among other things, hoses, expansion joints and vehicle parts, has also been active in the aerospace industry for decades. A German industry that is relatively unknown and sometimes underestimated in the state: the around 15,000 employees recently generated sales of a little more than 4.8 billion euros per year, as reported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Stuttgart. But it is hardly known that 40 percent of space activities in Germany come from Baden-Württemberg.

However, the sector is less visible in comparison to mechanical engineering or the automotive industry, as a spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg Aerospace Forum reports. Several start-ups are also active in the country trying to establish new business models. For example HyImpulse Technologies GmbH from Neuenstadt am Kocher, which wants to try with a new type of rocket to enable the cost-effective transfer of satellites into earth orbit.

The first test flight of a sounding rocket is planned for the end of this year or the beginning of next year, says founder and managing director Mario Kobald.

The schedule has shifted somewhat, due to delays in parts and suppliers, among other things.

The company with around 60 employees, like its competitors who are active in the field in Germany, faces the problem that there is no starting place in Germany.

"We are in discussion with the SaxaVord Space Center in Shetland and the Esrange Space Center in Sweden as possible launch sites." The rocket has a hybrid drive that is powered by liquid oxygen and paraffin, i.e. candle wax.

The aim is to create a scheduled air traffic in space transport.

"Space travel is in a phase of upheaval"

According to the Aerospace Forum, growth rates of more than 15 percent per year are expected in the satellite segment alone. EuroConsult predicts that by 2028 alone, around 990 satellites will be put into orbit and that 75 percent of the added value will come from manufacture and 25 percent from transport into space. In addition to Airbus, many smaller space companies are located on Lake Constance, which are particularly active in the development of satellites, probes, instruments and equipment for earth observation, navigation, meterology and space exploration.

Three of the four founders of yuri GmbH, based in Meckenbeuren, were once employed by Airbus on Lake Constance before they went into business for themselves.

You have developed a mini-laboratory.

This can be used by researchers from companies or universities for their experiments in space.

The start-up organizes the flight into space, for example to the International Space Station ISS.

It also bundles multiple missions to lower the cost of rocket flights.

“We don't need 100 programmers,” says co-founder Mark Kugel, referring to the existing infrastructure on Lake Constance.

Great market potential

The Baden-Württemberg Minister of Economic Affairs Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut (CDU) says: “Space travel is currently in a phase of upheaval worldwide and is being strongly challenged by the current developments in New Space. More and more new players are entering the market who use the dynamically growing data stock of space travel and develop space-based products and services for the mass market. ”This also creates great market potential. For example, there are some smaller satellite communication companies based around Backnang near Stuttgart. The use of satellite data is also becoming more and more interesting. Solutions in logistics or in the area of ​​smart farming are particularly attractive, according to the Aerospace Forum.

Most of the space engineers trained in Germany come from the University of Stuttgart and the Faculty of Aerospace Technology and Geodesy there. Bremen and Bavaria also offer space-specific funding programs with the establishment of a new faculty for aerospace at the Technical University of Munich. With the aim of overtaking the University of Stuttgart as the largest faculty, they represent a great danger for Baden-Württemberg, the association warns at the same time.

He calls for the industry to be made more visible. Because only very few would know that every drive that is launched in Europe is tested in Lampoldshausen. Because here is another important space location in the country with the DLR and the ArianeGroup. In addition to space propulsion systems for satellites and orbital platforms (ArianeGroup), there are also altitude simulation test benches from the DLR Institute for Space Propulsion Systems, which are indispensable for the Ariane program.