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The TESAT Supplier Award is a special honour for companies that stand out for their excellent service and fast delivery times.

During a commissioning and early operations phase, Kepler established optical inter-satellite links between two Pathfinder satellites equipped with Space Development Agency (SDA) compatible TESAT SCOT80 optical terminals in low earth orbit.

Kepler Communications, TESAT and Airbus Defence and Space have entered into an agreement to develop a high bandwidth optical communications network in low Earth orbit (LEO).

TESAT develops new electroless plating technique based on ionic liquids that allows plating of different substrate materials with gold, silver or nickel with a thickness of only a few micrometres.

TESAT reaches an important milestone in the expansion of its cleanroom manufacturing capacity by 4,000 square meters to a total of 21,000 square meters with the topping-out ceremony of the new building on Thursday, May 4, 2023.

Kepler Communications has selected TESAT to supply optical inter-satellite links for its next generation of satellites. TESAT’s SCOTT80 (constellation laser communication terminals) will be installed on Kepler’s first tranche of ÆTHER satellites, enabling optical service for The Kepler Network, a real-time, always-on communication network in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) providing the internet in space for space assets.

The events of the last few days have tragically demonstrated the importance of satellite communication in Germany, but also throughout Europe. Not only do early warning systems rely on information from earth observation satellites, communication and, above all, coordination of rescue teams could hardly be managed without support from low earth orbits. Especially since the severe disaster caused terrestrial systems to reach their limits early on or were also affected by the destruction.

The satellite system that is able to provide such information and images in near real-time, is part of the Copernicus program of the European Union and ESA. Here, among other things, the two twin satellite pairs Sentinel-1A and -1B as well as Sentinel-2A and -2B fly in low-earth orbits in order to create high-resolution images. With laser communication terminals (LCT) from TESAT, this data is sent to geostationary satellites of the European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS) in order to make the information usable on earth within a very short time frame.

The use of the TESAT LCTs in the context of the EDRS provides the decisive advantage, as the satellite images are available in barely more than 15 minutes for planning time-critical support. Images and information that – without the help of the optical payloads – would either take hours to download or would otherwise only be available in lower resolution.

We at TESAT are happy to be able to make a contribution here with our technology and to be able to prevent worse.

Further links: Situation information for disaster management - DLR Portal

By beginning of May 2021, the quantity counter of the „Automated Microwave Factory“ exceeded a volume of 100,000 complex microwave hybrids. The precise quantity of 102,077 pcs splits in 83,321 LTCC multilayer hybrids and 18,756 MHICs (Microwave Hybrid Integrated Circuits). Roughly 50 million adhesive dots have been dispensed and more than 26 million gold wires have been applied.

When space industry so far was defined by huge individual satellites planned for a long lifetime, NewSpace and new approaches by new global market players have changed the view and the whole industry sustainably. Satellites are becoming smaller, lighter and exchangeable to serve a greater purpose in large satellite constellations. Thus, satellite constellations can deal with problems and deliver solutions for which prior no convenient key was acquirable, such as e.g. high-speed internet in even rural areas. Here, satellite communication and especially satellite constellations have a large advantage before terrestrial solutions that whether have to deal with long awarding processes followed by even longer construction phases or business models that don’t pay off at the end. Satellite constellations consisting of hundreds of satellites covering the globe can here play off their upper hand as, once in orbit, the needed services can be made accessible from all over the world in virtually no time.

Even before satellite television, most people clearly are more familiar with the application of satellites in the field of navigation. For decades, satellites have been providing more and more precise position data in various different global navigation satellite systems such as GPS, GLONASS, Galileo or Beidou. More than just allowing people to navigate through unknown territories, those systems essentially enable globalization in its core, with all its global value-, goods-, and data streams.

If you ping a server in Sydney from southern Germany, on bad days you have enough time for about four blueberry pies – scientifically determined with the help of a chronograph and the editor’s ability to pronounce the word “blueberry pie” as quickly as possible. Based on the assumption that the ping travels in a fiber optic cable during its entire route between Munich and Sydney, it reaches – purely mathematically – a speed of approx. 11,600 m/s (distance 35,000 kilometers divided by 3 seconds). In this admittedly rather simple calculation, which by far does not include all aspects of terrestrial data transmission, nonetheless one thing is becoming clear: Cable-based data transmission is limited, in some places still unrivalled, but fundamentally limited.

924 megabits per second. That is how fast you can transfer data with your personal computer in the tranquil small town of Carver, Massachusetts, with a population of just under 12,000. Carver is thereby at the very top of the top 100 list (source) regarding available internet bandwidth for private households in the US. Each of these 100 cities currently has a higher average bandwidth than the International Space Station, which – what has to be mentioned – has had its internet connection become updated in August 2019. Since humanity’s stronghold in space was by then connected to Earth’s surface with 10 Megabit per second, since the end of 2019 now 600 Mbit/s can be achieved. That corresponds roughly to the speed that is still the order of the day in the more rural regions of Germany, but that is an issue for another day.

Just a few years ago, “information security” was a topic best known from dystopian Hollywood thrillers, in which dark-dressed hackers in even darker basements could gain access to almost any network in just a few simple steps. At that time, the gap between fiction and reality was still dramatically big, but today, in the middle of the fifth industrial revolution, it became nearly a daily routine. But despite any’s better judgement and knowing, the current top passwords still are "12345678", "password", "111111" and "Abc123".

For more than 20 years, the European Sentinels of the Copernicus program have been watching over our planet. The core tasks thereby are in the area of ​​high-quality Earth observation data in order to better understand our planet and the effects of climate change and above to contribute to civil security. In addition, one of the vital advantages of the Copernicus program is that all data collected, whether from orbit, on ground, on water or in the air, is freely accessible and free of charge for everyone.

Meanwhile, PIXL-1 has seen the light of day and has safely arrived at its designated position in a low Earth orbit. No later than now the question should arise where to send all the data and high resolution images PIXL-1 takes from our precious world. Luckily, this question is answered pretty easily: To a growing network of optical ground stations.

Our PIXL-1 small satellite was successfully launched into orbit on January 24, 2021 at 16:00 CET. The launch took place from the US spaceport at Cape Canaveral with a Falcon 9 launcher from SpaceX.

On 21^st November, Sentinel-6 showed us a picture-perfect launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from US Air Force Base Vandenberg. Now, further positive messages can be shared: All in-orbit-tests, including the functionality of the X-Band downlink subsystem from TESAT as part of the Data Handling Transmission Payload (PDHT) were successful and went even smoother than in any previous simulation, as one of the responsible System Engineers states about the latest status.

Tomorrow evening at around 18:17 CET, a Falcon 9 launcher from SpaceX will bring Sentinel-6 into space. The ‘climate guardian’ as it is called beside its official name 'Michael Freilich”, has the mission to monitor the sea level as well as recording sea state and ocean currents.

Even though the current situation are hard times, business has to go on and is even growing. We, as TESAT, felt very proud to be able to participate at this year’s MEWS33, a mixed on-site and online event for the growing Japanese market. Traditionally once a year, cutting edge technology is presented within this conference – this years in a special operating mode.

Tonight at 5:10h CEST, NASA spacecraft OSIRIS-REx successfully TAGged (touch-and-go) the asteroid “Bennu” at a distance of around 330 million kilometres and – hopefully – collected enough dust and small stones. It have to be at least 60 grams (up to 2 kilograms can be transported). If it was enough will be clarified in the next few days and a decision will be made as to whether OSIRIS-REx has to go down again or can head on its way home to Earth.

The Cyber Essentials program is a UK government certification program that shall help companies to gain understanding for the principles of cyber security. It includes, beneath several other measurement mechanics, an independent rating of the company-internal security controls to protect against internet threats. The main goal of the Cyber Essentials program lays in Great Britain’s National Cyber Security Strategy that aims on making the country to a dynamic, resilient and secure Cyberspace for online trade.

Last week, an expert team from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) was at our site for an on-the-job training as part of our TESAT Campus. Since we’re still in times of Corona, this Campus took place under special precautions and hygiene measures. As a result we developed the TESAT eCampus which goes online now for all customers. Be prepared!

For the first time in the history of space industry, a German company was chosen to deliver crucial technology for a core communication system of a US governmental program.

Within this program, an US american manufacturer for satellite payloads has received an order to supply ten LEO satellites with optical inter-satellite links, for which they selected TESAT as the unique supplier for all optical terminals.

Now, the Constellation Laser Communication Terminals (ConLCTs) are to be built and delivered until the planned launch of the first satellite on 31st July, 2022.

With a live weight of around 1.7 tons, OHB brought us a real chunk a few weeks ago. This colossus is nothing less than the repeater module of the German communications satellite Heinrich Hertz, which has found its new, temporary home unscathed at us in Backnang.

Today, more than 120 devices and components from TESAT will launch into space. About 90 of these are passive devices such as output networks, input multiplexer or filter assemblies, and about three dozen are active components as e.g. microwave power modules. They will fly along with tonight’s launching Ariane 5 ECA carrying Galaxy 30 (G30), the Mission Extension Vehicle-2 (MEV-2) and BSAT-4b.

The launch window opens tonight at 23:33 CEST.

Update from Friday, 12:15h: Launch was postponed to Saturday 23:33 CEST due to weather conditions.

Last week the Bartolomeo platform was successfully installed on the ISS, and fundamentally simplifies the operational capability and scientific resilience of the international space station. In-orbit testing, earth observation missions, space robotics, weather monitoring or exobiology experiments, all of this and much more will not only be more affordable and simple, no, the simplicity and, above all, the speed of data transmission will increase dramatically:

At the latest when the TOSIRIS sets out on the path to the ISS next year and is attached to the outer shell. The TOSIRIS is a handy laser communication terminal, barely bigger than a shoe box, which TESAT developed and built in cooperation with the DLR-IKN. The terminal weighing just about 9 kilograms will drastically revolutionize the communication between the ISS and Earth's surface once it has been commissioned, and transcends the space station into the Giga era with data transmission rates of up to 10 gigabits per second.

EDRS-C completed its commissioning tests last week and is now ready to start operational service. The second node of the European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS) strengthens the position of the world's first laser communication constellation and doubles its capacity. While currently the SpaceDataHighway mainly serves the European Copernicus programme, until 2030 a total of 15 satellites should use the very high bandwidth data connectivity.

The success story of our TESAT Campus continues. Meanwhile, our second and third training was finished and thirteen new, happy and successfully certified participants could be released to the world of EEE space parts.

Tomorrow starts this year’s Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen and, counting as a home match, we will be there as almost every years. Even though being an old hand we are excited about the upcoming few days and are glad to be part of this great, international space community.

Already for the 32^nd time, the MEWS conference took place in Japan. This year's main topic: EEE components and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) as a trump card to NewSpace activity.

Our TESAT Parts Agency participated at this weeks ACCEDE workshop from the European Space Agency ESA from 6. to 8. November. The conference has its focus on the use of Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components and parts for use in space applications.

Today we can announce that we delivered our first CubeLCT to a non-disclosed, US-American customer. The CubeLCT is a small, ultra-lightweight optical data transmitter, which is capable of transferring data with 100 Megabit per second from low Earth orbit satellites directly to ground. For us, this delivery marks the starting point of a new product family focusing on NewSpace applications for small satellites and CubeSats.

The 18^th DLR Components Conference took place on 23^rd  and 24^th  May in Bonn Königswinter. The 120 participants of the German aerospace supply industry discussed intensively about news and future topics around EEE components.

The TESAT Parts Agency and the EEE Centre were represented here with three lectures from Dr. Witzany (EEE Centre), Mr. Rostewitz (EEE Centre) and Dr. Kuechen (Parts Agency).

The European Service Module (ESM) Flight Unit 1, a part of the ORION spacecraft, has successfully been shipped from Germany to the US and is now prepared for its marriage with the NASA crew vehicle to be made ready for the launch at the Kennedy Space Center. Not just being a great success for NASA, ESA and Airbus, but also for the Tesat-Spacecom Parts Agency. As subcontractor of Airbus, TESAT is leading the Coordinated Parts Procurement (CPPA) for the European Service Module, which occupies a relevant part of the new Multipurpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV).

Aladin’s magic lamp ready for take off: After 16 years of preparation and tough technical difficulties, Aeolus is finally ready to go for its final destination in low earth orbit. Weighing 1.4 tons, Aeolus carries the payload “Aladin”(Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument), which is based on the concept of LIDAR (Light detection and ranging), a method related to RADAR, but with laser beams for distance measuring instead of radio waves.

Recently an editor of the VDI-Nachrichten paid us a visit for his research on laser communications and EDRS-C, having no fear bringing our experts to their limits and asking difficult and uncomfortable questions. The result is an exciting and extensive article with the headline „Lichtgestalt“ („Shining Light“).

The article describes our LCT135, which we developed and produced in cooperation with DLR IKN, and its role within Airbus’ SpaceDataHighway.

Many thanks to Iestyn Hartbrich for the well-written article.

Here is the article: https://www.vdi-nachrichten.com/Gesellschaft/Lichtgestalt

The final countdown for Tara, Samuel, Anna and Ellen begins: Only 1 hour and 30 minutes until the new Galileo satellites are launched into orbit onboard an Ariane 5 launcher.

In short: the European Galileo program is the counterpart to the US GPS system and is though an independent, global satellite navigation system. Tesat-Spacecom's part for the four new satellites was to deliver the essential TT&C transponders, which are being used to properly determine the position of an object in space and though are crucial for a satellite-based positioning serivce.

The launch can be found at this link, the launch is today at 13:00 CEST.

Picture © ESA

Tesat takes part in European Union’s research and innovation programme Hi-FLY to take RF data links to the next stage. But let’s first clarify: What is the Hi-FLY project? And why is it so important?

The LCT135 with its 135 mm narrow aperture is the smallest terminal in the geostationary orbit. Working in a daily routine it is the powerhouse within the European Data Relay System called SpaceDataHighway. Under the ESA ScyLight program Tesat-Spacecom has now spawned the next evolution step for our well known GEO Laser Communication Terminals LCT135, by further developing and implementing new additional features to make even more applications possible. Therefore the GEO LCT135 will get – beside other new features – a data rate upgrade to nearly 4 Gbps, and a flexible and switchable mode between LEO and GEO scenarios to enable laser links over distances of 80,000 km in space in just seconds.

Tomorrow, on the 25th January, at 23:20 CET (live stream starts at 22:05 CET) an Ariane 5 ECA will launch two satellites - the SES-14 and the Al Yah 3 - into a geostationary transfer orbit. A rocket launch per se is a event you don't want to miss, but - needless to say - for us it's always a very special moment when our equipment gets shot into space, such as a variety of Ku- and Ka-Band OMUXes, IMUXes, Switches, Filters and MPMs.

Today at 11:27 am CET the European Sentinel-5P satellite of the Copernicus program starts with a Rockot from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. In addition to the great fact that this launch is one of the few that takes place during the day and you do not have to stay up late or get up early, the mission of the Sentinel 5P is a remarkable one:

With its state-of-the-art Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (Tropomi), it measures a variety of trace gases such as nitrogen dioxide, ozone, formaldehyde, sulfur dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and aerosols. All of which affect our air in any way, influencing our health and our climate and making it so a very important mission for us and our planet.

The topic of counterfeit semiconductors and other faked high-tech components has become increasingly explosive in today's world and the latest technical developments. Just last week the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF helps partners seize over one million counterfeit semiconductors in major Joint Customs Operation, 03.07.17) and international media reported about a century coup of European customs surveys and the securing of millions of counterfeit semiconductors.

When the Tesat-Spacecom supplier award was launched in 2008, one would never have expected it to become so popular over the years. Although the coveted award presupposes a supplier evaluation, which continuously tests all relevant aspects in the supplier's company, this is a comparatively low price for the rare honor.

For the second time in a row, the Tesat Parts Agency was awarded with the "Supplier of the Year" award in the category "Value-Add Supplier" by Rockwell Collins. The US aerospace company awards the prize – it could almost be called a trophy – in a total of ten categories, although not every category is awarded if there is no corresponding performance. We can therefore be particularly proud of the fact that we have been repeatedly selected from hundreds of suppliers worldwide.

Under the patronage of Britta Schade (Senior Head of Department at DLR for Quality and Product Assurance), DLR's 5th Conference on EEE Parts took place in Jena on 4th and 5th April 2017. With about 100 registered participants, the event was well booked and enjoyed its growing interest every year. Employees from our Parts Agency and the EEE Center attended the conference.

On March 26th, 2017, it was time to head for Bonn - with our packed truck on its way to the former federal capital. On the same evening, our Laser Communication Terminal already took its place at the DLR booth at the Maritim Hotel.

On 16th and 17th March 2017, the G20 conference "Digitizing Manufacturing - Initiatives, Best Practices and Policy Approaches" took place in Berlin. The conference at the Berlin Congress Center at Alexanderplatz was characterized by numerous lectures and panel discussions. The organizer of the event was the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy.

Summer comes and for many young people school ends. For the first time in their lives, pupils must leave the prescribed and regular school life and have to choose a career path. In choice of a training place, we want to inspire young people for our high technology and arouse passion for space communication.

Not long ago we ware able to witness the launch of the groundbreaking SmallGEO satellite Hispasat 36W-1 live and now the next milestone is at the gates: Sentinel-2B is ready for take off and will be launched tonight at around 02:49 h (CET) on board a European Vega launcher.

With Hispasat 36W-1, 25 years after DFS-Copernicus a German communications satellite launched once again into geostationary orbit. On board: a payload from Tesat-Spacecom.

To all the night owls, aerospace enthusiasts and satellite lunatics: A Soyuz VS16 rocket with the OHB-built SmallGEO satellite HISPASAT 36W-1 and our telecommunication payload starts today at 02:32 pm Central European Time, or "exactly" in 14 hours and 6 minutes. Here, thanks to ESA and livestream.com, you can experience the launch up close and live.

For more than fifteen years, Tesat-Spacecom from Backnang has stood for quality and innovation in space equipment. Fifteen years full of exciting developments, innovations, great milestones and the one or other big and small revolution in space. With pride one can look back on what has been created, and with pride one can look into the future, on what is still to come to us. With the self-confidence of more than 700 realized space projects and more than 250 million in-orbit hours, we expect this future with excitement as well as with enthusiastic curiosity.

In the context of the KinderUni Plus 2016 of the Vereins für Kinder in Backnang e.V. more than 70 inquisitive pupils flowed to Tesat-Spacecom, in order to learn or even to try out the one or the other.

The TGO space probe was now on its way to the Red Planet for seven months, and is now on the finishing line of the ExoMars mission. Yesterday afternoon, the international team of ESA and Roskosmos researchers celebrated the first milestone: The separation of "Schiaparelli" from the research probe "TGO", which was not quite uninhibitive, was successfully mastered. Now it takes a few more days until Schiaparelli has braked to the right speed, before it lands on Mars on Wednesday.

Using an Atlas-V rocket and on board the spacecraft OSIRIS-REx amplifiers made by Tesat-Spacecom make themselves tomorrow on the way to the asteroid Bennu. After New Horizons and Juno, OSIRIS-REx is the third spacecraft of the New Frontiers Program of NASA. The aim of the OSIRIS-REx mission is to collect samples and return them to Earth. More precisely, the probe shall gather around 60 grams of regolith, "non-earthly loose material on the surface of asteroids", with its arm, store it safely and bring it back to Earth.

On 28 and 29 July, we had again a little enthusiastic crowd of young pioneers in our house who could hardly have been more curious and craft tempered. We're talking of course of our annual summer vacation program that we organize for years at Tesat-Spacecom and bring children and young people playfully closer to what we do and space technology in general.

On his tour through the "Ländle" (how we call our swabian homeland) Mr Christian Lange (Parliamentary Secretary to the Federal Minister of Justice and Consumer Protection and member of the Bundestag) made a stopover at ours and brought Mr Franke (City Council member of the municipal council Backnang) with him.

In recent months, experts have composed from academia and industry to draw up a White Paper on the future of satellite communications. A white paper is a summary of the existing technology and gives an overview of how this will evolve in the coming years. To take account of the latest research results the writing team consists of leading professors from German universities. As a representative of business and industry Dr. Siegbert Martin, Head of Passive Microwave Products, was part of this writing team, by which Tesat has direct access to the latest research and a good understanding of future technical and technological trends and evolutions.

The optical observation satellite Sentinel-2B, which structurally identical twin-satellite Sentinel-2A has already been started on June 23, 2015, now comes into the hot phase. Yesterday the second "eye" of the European Earth monitoring program Copernicus was completed and is now ready for different space tests in the Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) of ESA in Noordwijk.

Even at the last day the weather was more than perfect and the stream of visitors seemed to be endless. Our colleagues from Backnang came by bus to visit the ILA and started their journey at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Perfect weather conditions introduced the third day at the ILA Berlin Air Show 2016, which was also the first visitor day of the exhibition. 

Today at our booth we had two young delegations, one from DeSK (German Center for Satellite Communication) and one from Thales. Also our own trainees came to visit us and took the long way from Backnang. 

After the first successful day, the second came to follow. You may say that some sort of routine came up and everything seemed to be a bit easier. 

Since Sigmar Gabriel officially opened the exhibition yesterday, Alexander Dobrindt came today to visit Europes largest fair for aerospace industries. Beneath that we had a very interested and way more interesting delegation at our both: the Juris. These are from a iniative from the BDLI,  which has the aim to interest young boys and girls in technics and aerospace. 

Without wanting to praise ourselves, you have to ungrudgingly acknowledge that our booth belongs to the most beautiful ones here at the ILA. After two busy construction days full of sweat and frayed nerves our booth shone today for the opening in all its glory!

According to the motto „PCs for Cameroon“ Tesat-Spacecom has donated several disused computers, laptops and a projector to the Cameroon Christian University Institute, which so could be get a new provision instead of being scrapped.

Initiator of this campaign and messenger of the devices was Dr. Augustine Mofor, who himself, as a contribution to the development of Cameroon, his homeland, gives lectures at several universities in technichal subjects. Just by this activity Dr. Mofor became aware of the situation and developed the idea to help.

The event last year was only the beginning of the cooperation and of a more symbolic nature. In the future, support for the universities of Cameroon is to be expanded.

We see the materials gold, tin, tungsten and tantalum in our every day life. Each of our devices contains at least on of these raw materials, be it gold in the bonding wires, tantalum in the capacitor, tungsten in a traveling wave tube amplifier or tin in a soldered point. The sources of these raw materials are mines in resource rich countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. There the profit out of the export of the raw materials does not lead to a wealthy economy but finances the lasting for years civil war.

Tesat Parts Agency was honored with the this year’s “Supplier of the Year” award in the category “Value-Add Supplier” by Rockwell Collins. The US aerospace company awards this prize annually from hundreds of suppliers to only ten chosen companies.

Update 2: Start postponed a second time. For further info, please go with the livestream player.

Update: Due to bad weather conditions the launch is postponed. New launch Date: today, 23.04.16, 22:30h (CET). Stay tuned.

Tonight at 23:02 Central European Time a Soyuz rocket with a precious cargo launches from the European spaceport near Kourou in French Guiana: Not only the satellite Sentinel-1B, the fourth "guardian" of the European Earth observation program Copernicus is on board, but also a Laser Communication Terminal (LCT) from Tesat-Spacecom, to collect and send more precise data from earth to earth. Sentinel-1B joins his twin satellites 1A, which circulates already for two years to the Earth and the other Sentinels 2A and 3A.

March 2016 – As the first company worldwide, Tesat-Spacecom, one of the largest space technology companies in Germany, has pioneered the application of additive manufacturing techniques, also known as 3D printing, for the production of microwave components. The breakthrough took place within the framework of an activity supported by ESA through the Competitiveness & Growth Element of the ARTES programme.

On 14th March 2016 the communication module (CM) of the EDRS-C payload was delivered to OHB. On the 16th March the incoming inspection in Bremen could also be completed successfully. Thereby two of the three components of the payload – CM and antenna – as also the testing system for the following satellite testing phase at OHB in Bremen respectively at IABG in Ottobrunn are ready. The last essential component for the function of the hybrid payload, the LCT, is in the final acceptance test phase at Tesat-Spacecom.

Early March 2016 in the civic center of Waiblingen: Roundabout 8,000 visitors gathered information from 120 exhibitors about training offers in the region.

Already on Friday morning numerous students pressed, gathered in school classes, through the narrow aisles. On Saturday many students came with their parents to inform on training offers with all the individual companies.

Last Friday we awarded for the eleventh time now our coveted supplier award. From around 1,100 active suppliers are about 400 suppliers in a constant supplier evaluation. Five companies were honored this year for outstanding achievements in the field of quality and delivery.

Behind the award is also an entrepreneurial advantage: the continuous improvement. Mr. Collissy, department manager of purchasing, places emphasis on the internal instructions: "The supplier evaluation serves to measure the quality of the cooperation and to improve it. Through this continuous measurement it is possible to identify potential for improvement and to make changes visible."

Some of our products are made out of more than 7,500 individual parts and have to ensure their service in orbit over a period of 15 years, "the importance of reliable and high quality suppliers is obvious here," so Collissy added.

The engineering office for precision mechanics Wolf from Winnenden received the supplier award this year for the third time after 2011 and 2015. The cooperation exists since 2004, whereat the work focuses on the development and production of special devices for tools in manufacturing, assembly and quality control as well as the manufacturing and supply of precision parts in small series.

For the fourth time after 2009, 2012 and 2014 Schenz milling technology from Auenwald received the supplier award for top quality, punctuality and flexibility. Schenz manufactures high-precision mechanical components and is a specialist in their field. The company has been a supplier of us since 1968.

After 2008, 2012 and 2014 Mielenz CNC Technik from Loßburg received last Friday its fourth supplier award for outstanding achievement in high precision mechanics. Founded by Heinz Friedrich Mielenz in Köngen in 1980 Mielenz CNC Technik is a manufacturer of vacuum clamping units and contract manufacturer for the areas of automotive, aerospace and telecommunications.

Blinzinger electronics from Sindringen received their first supplier price this year. Established in 1986, they develop and manufacture electronic products for industrial purposes. The product range extends from technical ceramics such as soft magnetic ferrite cores and their processing, magnetic components such as transformers up to complete devices in the field of industrial power supplies.

The rich in tradition company Böhm & Wiedemann from Eching, founded in 1784, was awarded this year also for the first time with the supplier award. Founded as “bohemian glassware” it now focuses on optical precision machinery and is a certified supplier of the aerospace industry.

The certificate is handed out along with a statue called "Steps to Success". The artist and creator of the bronze sculpture, Louise Kött Gardener, describes it as follows: "A positive and life-affirming attitude helps to cope the steps to success lightly, nearly playfully".

On January 29, 2016 at 23:20h (CET) the first laser node oft the European Data Relay Satellite System (EDRS) was successfully sent to orbit aboard a Proton launcher. After about nine hours of flight the telecommunications satellite Eutelsat 9B reached its target altitude of 36,000 kilometers above the equator, where it is subjected to immediate in-orbit tests.

On 05 December 2015, there had come: After years of effort and many obstacles that had to be overcome, the Technology Forum was opened with a small ceremony. On more than 1,000 m2 industrial history of Backnang is presented with ist four main industries: tannery, mill, automotive and telecommunications.

On November 30, 2015 Andreas Hammer was officially welcomed by mayor Dr. Frank Nopper in the historic city hall of Backnang and thus welcomed into the city of Backnang. Although the men already have met before in various occasions, the date was now called the first visit.

The Parts Agency was represented together with the EEE-Centre from 17 to 19 November 2015 on the Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen. The booth and two held lectures were well received by the professional audience.

On Saturday 10 October 2015, there was again pure motorsport on the indoor track of the Indy Cart GmbH at the 18th city tournaments of Backnang. During the event, nine teams came together to crown the best team of company and club teams. The winner of the ever-popular and coveted trophy was presented, which lies dormant in the custody of the MSC Backnang now for several years.

Since 01 October 2015 Andreas Hammer is Managing Director at Tesat. In mid-September he spent a week in Backnang to get a first insight into our company. We asked Andreas Hammer to a short interview:

From 22 to 24 September 2015 the 64th German Aerospace Congress was held in Rostock. This scientific conference is organized annually by the German Society of Aerospace (DGLR) and is the most important event in this field in Germany. Tesat participated this year with five presentations in the program.

The first award of the proclaimed by Airbus Defence & Space "Awards for Excellence" was a great success: from 23 March to 30 April 2015 288 projects were submitted, including five applications from Tesat. Three of them have taken the first hurdles in the selection process successfully!

This year total of 86 children aged between six and fourteen years took part in the summer holiday program at Tesat. In July and August four craft mornings were organized, which were under the motto "satellites". The program was open to both children of Tesat employees and children who had applied through the holiday program of the city of Backnang.

The 5th AOK corporate run in Waiblingen, which took place on September 16, 2015 was carried out at optimum running weather on a 5.4 km circular route in the floodplains of the Rems. About 1450 runners were at the start, including 15 Tesat Space Runners - as many as never before since the first participation in this corporate run in 2012.

It was a tough job, but on September 1, 2015 it was to come: Our new exhibition foyer was opened in the presence of the two parliamentary secretaries Brigitte Zypries and Christian Lange. Even the mayor of Backnang, Dr. Frank Nopper, and Andreas Hammer, the successor of Peter Schlote were on site. And around 500 colleagues who wanted to throw a first look at our new boss.

LISA Pathfinder, the technology demonstrator of the ESA for the detection of gravitational waves, is now ready for transport to the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. From there it will start in November into space. The 1.9-ton spacecraft, for which Airbus Defence and Space is the prime contractor, will be launched aboard a European Vega rocket.

On July 24, 2015 the smart foxes - preschool children of the kindergarten in Maubach - were here for the sixth time in the project "Technolino" visiting us. Target of Technolino, a project of Südwestmetall, is to introduce children early to the subjects natural science and technology.

In the early morning of June 23 2015, the Earth observation satellite Sentinel-2A was launched on board a Vega launcher from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Sentinel-2A is the second satellite, which was launched into orbit as part of the European environmental monitoring program Copernicus.

On June 17, a group of the Students Engineer Academy (SIA) of the Herzog-Christoph-Gymnasium in Beilstein visited us at Tesat. Also present was the teacher Brigitte Kobiela, who is well known in Tesat for many years. The contact is made, since in 2012 at the fair "Mission future - from Baden-Württemberg into Space" at a student competition students of Mrs. Kobiela were among the winners.

At the 8th AOK corporate run in Stuttgart on 20 May 2015 Tesat-Spacecom was represented with nearly 100 runners. Also the result was again outstanding:

On April 21, 2015, the Tesat football team kicked in a friendly match against the newly formed team of Airbus Lampoldshausen.

For Lampoldshausen it was the second game in this constellation, when the team of Tesat is well established at the time. According to that was also the result of 8:1! This was a good start to the season of the “no field tournaments” where Tesat competes this year in Allmersbach and Erbstetten.

The eighth edition of the Education Fair „Fokus Beruf“ was a great success: About 8,000 visitors attended the exhibition at „Maubacher Höhe“ in Backnang. Already on friday morning approximately 2,500 students visited the exhibition.

On February 20th, 2015 the Tesat Purchasing and Quality Management department awarded four companies for outstanding cooperation in 2014. The supplier prize was awarded to the companies Mielenz GmbH CNC Technik, Matthias Meidlinger GmbH and Pacific Wave Systems Inc., while the innovation prize went to Wolf Ingenieurbüro Präzisionsmechanik.

After six months of intensive testing, the first Sentinel-2 satellite developed and built by Airbus Defence and Space for the European Space Agency (ESA) is getting ready for its mission in space.

Sometimes it goes haywire at Tesat - for our TWTAs and MPMs there is only one direction: UP! And this in the truest sense of the word, because most (though not all) of our devices climb to about 36,000 km.