With celebrations across Germany, Europe, and around the world, OHB today marked its 45th anniversary. Over the past decades, the company has grown from a small hy-draulic repair shop in Bremen’s Hemelingen harbor into one of the leading players in the European space industry.
Among the guests at the Bremen headquarters was Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte. Video messages from long-standing partners in the European space sector underscored the remarkable achievements of OHB’s more than 4,000 employees.
Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB, commented: “I find it truly remarkable that OHB is already turning 45. Together, we have accomplished so much over the past decades, and we continue to develop every day. At the same time, we are also celebrating our initial pub-lic offering 25 years ago and last week’s successful capital increase. OHB continues to grow and thrive, and I am extremely proud of the company and the entire team.”
Entrepreneurial pioneering spirit as the foundation
Originally, OHB stood for “Otto Hydraulik Bremen” and was not a space company, but a repair shop for hydraulic ship systems with just five employees. In 1981, Christa Fuchs took over the company and, with strong entrepreneurial vision, set it on a path for growth early on. Shortly thereafter, her husband Manfred Fuchs joined the business. As an experienced space executive, he shaped the company’s strategic direction toward what we now call New Space. Meanwhile, Christa Fuchs continued to safeguard the company’s financial stability. In her role as the business-minded counterpart to the en-gineering team, she kept a close eye on the finances and knew how to reconcile tech-nological ambition with entrepreneurial pragmatism.
Smaller, more cost-effective, more efficient
In its early years, OHB developed experimental equipment for human spaceflight and participated in international missions. The launch of its first satellite, BremSat, in 1994 marked a major milestone, while the company simultaneously opened up new markets with small communication satellites and telematics solutions.
With Marco Fuchs joining in the mid-1990s, the company’s strategic development gained further momentum. OHB went public in 2001, and in the same year achieved a breakthrough by winning the major SAR-Lupe project for the German armed forces, es-tablishing itself as a system provider for satellites.
Growth, internationalization, and strategic expansion
In the following years, OHB focused on targeted acquisitions and strong partnerships. By integrating companies in Germany and across Europe, the group expanded its portfo-lio along the entire space value chain.
Another key milestone came in 2010 when OHB won the contract for the European Gali-leo navigation system, ultimately delivering a total of 34 satellites – a project that sig-nificantly strengthened the company’s position as a leading European space provider.
Technological excellence for Earth and space
Whether in Earth observation, navigation, telecommunications, reconnaissance, or ex-ploration, OHB today delivers complex missions for national and international custom-ers – from satellites and launch systems to ground segments and data analysis.
In the past fiscal year, the OHB Group generated total revenues of around €1.2 billion and currently employs more than 4,000 people worldwide.
Despite its growth, the company remains majority-owned by the Fuchs family and looks toward a future in which space is becoming increasingly important as critical infrastruc-ture for communication, security, climate protection, and economic development.
