The Bristol-based UK subsidiary of German space group OHB, set up in 2025 to build, assemble and test satellites and spacecraft in the South West of England.
OHB Space UK is a new satellite company in Bristol. It belongs to OHB, a German group that designs and builds satellites for Earth observation, navigation, communications and space exploration, and acts as a large systems integrator for the European Space Agency (ESA). A systems integrator puts together the many parts of a spacecraft, made by different companies, and tests that the whole thing works. The UK team's first big job, reported in May 2026, is the assembly, integration and full test campaign for ESA's EnVision spacecraft, a mission to study Venus. EnVision will use radar and other instruments to look at the planet's atmosphere, surface and inside, and the UK team is doing this work for prime contractor Thales Alenia Space.
The company was announced by Industry Minister Sarah Jones at the Farnborough International Space Show on 19 March 2025. OHB's chief executive, Marco Fuchs, said he was glad the group had finally established a presence in a key European space market. The government described the plan as a multimillion-pound investment creating up to 50 specialist jobs in Bristol, in work on satellites and exploration spacecraft. The UKspace member listing describes the UK business as a new subsidiary of OHB SE. We did not find a separate UK mission statement, so we have not invented one.
In the UK, the company is based in Bristol. The first announcement placed it at the Bristol and Bath Science Park, and the May 2026 report says it is setting up a large cleanroom at a new site at Aztec West in Bristol, where it will integrate and test public and commercial satellites. Bristol is the centre of the Space West cluster and already home to Airbus, Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio. The report says the unit began with about 14 employees, a figure that is now dated, and aims to reach more than 100 engineers within five years.
On culture, the pages we could read say little about day-to-day life. What they show is a very new, fast-growing team with strong political backing and a visible first contract, which usually means working closely with colleagues in Germany and with ESA and Thales Alenia Space. The anniversary event in May 2026 involved ESA's Director of Science, the UK Space Minister and the Mayor of the West of England, which suggests the team is well connected locally.
A cleanroom satellite facility needs many kinds of people. These include systems engineers, assembly, integration and test engineers, quality and safety specialists, electronics and mechanical engineers, project managers, and logistics and facilities staff. Maths, physics, engineering and design and technology subjects point towards this work. Check the company's website for details of how the Bristol team is growing.
Website: www.ohb.de
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