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The OHB Story: From a Five-Person Operation to a Pioneer in European Space Exploration

With around 4,000 employees, OHB is one of Europe’s leading space technology companies. Over the past 45 years, the company has evolved from a repair shop specialised in hydraulic marine systems into a pioneer of the European space sector. To this day, OHB remains family-owned and focused on delievering efficient, customer-oriented space technologies. 

We.Create.Space.

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2026

On 13 March, OHB celebrates the 25th anniversary of its initial public offering.

A commemorative plaque from Deutsche Börse. OHB is one of the few companies from the Neuer Markt that remains publicly listed and successful.

With LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna), OHB has been selected for its first ESA large-class (L-class) science mission. Missions of this class are launched only once every ten years.

LISA will be the first space-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves in the low-frequency range. These are tiny ripples in spacetime generated when extremely massive objects move or merge, such as black holes or compact binary star systems. 

Carole Mundell (ESA Director of Science) and Chiara Pedersoli (CEO of OHB System AG) at the official kick-off event for the LISA mission at the 2025 Paris Air Show.
Three satellites form a triangle spanning 2.5 million kilometers to detect distortions in spacetime using laser interferometry.

OHB signs an investor agreement with the investment company KKR and the majority shareholders regarding the terms and conditions of KKR’s strategic stake in the OHB Group. This step strengthens the capital base required to implement the company’s growth strategy.
At the Capital Market Day on 13 February, OHB presents its corporate strategy for the coming years. A key element of this strategy is the creation of the new Digital business unit, which consolidates the company’s ground-based service activities. This step enables OHB to offer satellites, launchers and space-based services, covering the entire space value chain from A to Z.

At the annual press conference on the financial statements, OHB announces a major economic milestone: in the completed 2018 financial year, the OHB Group’s total output reached one billion euros for the first time.

2010 is marked by two major new projects: OHB wins the full first batch of fourteen satellites for Europe’s Galileo navigation system, with a further 20 satellites ordered over the following seven years, and, together with Thales Alenia Space, secures the contract for the next generation of European weather satellites, Meteosat Third Generation (MTG).

The award of the Galileo contract is a success that few had expected OHB to achieve.
MTG satellites enable more accurate weather forecasting for Europe.

As space budgets stagnate, the industry enters a period of consolidation, and numerous technology companies divest their space businesses. Undeterred by this trend, the Fuchs family continues to believe in the sector’s positive development, strategically founding start-ups and acquiring companies across Europe.
Under Marco Fuchs, OHB goes public on 13 March, while the engineering team led by Manfred Fuchs works on a proposal that delivers a major breakthrough at the end of the year: OHB wins the competition for the SAR-Lupe reconnaissance system, taking the company to the next level as a system provider.
The SAR-Lupe reconnaissance system for the German Armed Forces, consisting of five identical small satellites, marks OHB’s transition from a supplier to a systems provider.
As development progresses, the project for the first time engages up to 75 employees, a figure equivalent to the company’s entire workforce at the time of the tender.

Marco Fuchs, a lawyer practicing in New York and Frankfurt at the time, joins his parents’ then-small high-tech company. With him at their side, technology visionary Manfred Fuchs and finance expert Christa Fuchs gain a strategist who ensures the company’s succession and further growth.

Marco, Christa, and Manfred Fuchs...

The first satellite “made by OHB” begins its journey into space: BremSat launches aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery and, from February 1994 onwards, conducts scientific experiments and environmental observations for the duration of one year.

With BremSat, OHB is entering the small satellite business.
At the same time, development begins on SAFIR, the company’s own small telecommunications satellite.

In its early years, OHB primarily develops equipment for microgravity research, ranging from the MIKROBA drop capsule to contributions to the major space missions of the time, including Spacelab, D2 and MIR 92.

At the same time, development on the company’s first satellites begins. 

Another early project involves experimental equipment for the reusable Spacelab space laboratory.
Another early project involves experimental equipment for the reusable Spacelab space laboratory.

Manfred Fuchs’s arrival is quickly followed by the company’s first space projects. The formula for success: innovation and pragmatism.

However, with the move into the space business, the workshop in Hemelingen soon becomes too small. The company relocates to Bremen’s Technology Park close to the university, which remains the headquarters of the OHB Group to this day.

The combination of science, research and development, institutes and the drop tower in Bremen’s Technology Park provides an ideal environment for the emerging space company OHB.
Grand opening of the new location on Universitätsallee.

Manfred Fuchs joins his wife’s company and brings spaceflight with him. As a manager at MBB ERNO (now Airbus), he plays a key role in establishing the space industry in northern Germany.

His vision: as components and technologies become ever smaller and more efficient, why not offer satellites that are significantly smaller and more cost-effective while delivering even better performance?

Manfred Fuchs’s entry into his wife’s company marks the company’s shift towards spaceflight.
At this stage, the business is driven by opportunities as they arise, including development work for the oil spill response vessel Knechtsand.

Christa Fuchs becomes a partner in Otto Hydraulik Bremen. At that time, the company, based at Hemelinger Hafendamm in Bremen, employs five people and specializes in the maintenance of electrical and hydraulic marine systems for the German Armed Forces.

One year later, the trained businesswoman takes over the management of the company, hires its first engineers and specialists, and sets the course for growth.

When the Otto family was looking for someone to take over their small repair shop in Bremen-Hemelingen, Christa Fuchs was open to a new challenge.
Ulrich Schulz was OHB's first engineer and later served as a member of the executive board for many years. In the early days, he was still familiarizing himself with shipbuilding.