{"id":11488,"date":"2026-02-04T10:27:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T10:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/wpml-switch\/news\/ohb-establishes-european-moonport-company\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T16:39:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T16:39:42","slug":"ohb-grundet-european-moonport-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/news\/ohb-grundet-european-moonport-company","title":{"rendered":"OHB Establishes European Moonport Company"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the presence of Bavarian Minister-President Dr. Markus S\u00f6der, OHB announced today the founding of the European Moonport Company. The new company, headquartered at OHB\u2019s site in Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, will serve as a hub for the company\u2019s activities related to future lunar missions in Bavaria. Europe\u2019s goal of playing a pioneering role in humanity\u2019s return to the Moon is supported by the development of a European lunar infrastructure.<br\/><br\/>The Moon is increasingly becoming a geopolitically significant target for spacefaring nations such as the U.S., China, and India. In light of these developments, it is essential for Europe to formulate and consistently implement its own strategy for a sustainable presence on the Moon. At the ESA Ministerial Council meeting last November, Germany assumed the leadership role in Europe.<br\/><br\/>\u201cThe Moon is the next big step for European space exploration. Initiatives such as the European Moonport Company demonstrate how industrial strength, regional expertise, and a clear European vision can come together,\u201d says Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General. \u201cFor ESA, it is crucial that Europe builds the capabilities to maintain a permanent, sustainable, and independent presence on the Moon\u2014as a reliable and active partner in an international lunar architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prime Minister Dr. Markus S\u00f6der emphasizes: \u201cWe are space-minded! This is another step forward for Bavaria as a \u2018Space Valley\u2019 for Germany and all of Europe. The aerospace industry is booming: We are creating a unique ecosystem in the Free State that generates 12 billion euros in revenue and employs 38,000 people. From Bavaria, we\u2019re working in tandem with the federal government and the ESA. As a state, Bavaria will invest over one billion euros in aerospace alone by 2030\u2014from universities and research to startup funding and simplified relocation processes for defense and aerospace companies. While others are cutting back, we are investing an extra billion euros in research and science as part of our Bavarian High-Tech Agenda. It\u2019s working: Bavaria is now the number one startup hub, and TUM and LMU are the two best universities in the EU.\u201d<br\/><br\/>Building infrastructure on the Moon sets the course for an emerging economic zone. The foundation for this is not only independent access to the Moon, but also the development of key technologies for a future lunar infrastructure. These include launch and landing sites, energy, oxygen, and fuel supply, as well as navigation and communication.<br\/><br\/>Together with Munich Airport International, OHB has developed an initial concept for a central launch and landing base on the lunar surface, which was presented at today\u2019s event. Such a \u201cMoonport,\u201d serving as a safe hub for logistics flights and crewed spacecraft, is a crucial pillar for the development of an economic ecosystem on the Moon.<br\/><br\/>\u201cWith the founding of the European Moonport Company, we are supporting Europe\u2019s ambition to establish a permanent presence on the Moon through its own efforts, thereby laying the foundation for future scientific missions and economic activities,\u201d says Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB SE. \u201cFor us as a company, the Moon has always been an exciting destination. This long-standing fascination is now set to bear fruit: We want not only to accompany Europe\u2019s journey to the Moon, but also to actively help shape it.\u201d<br\/><br\/>As a space company with decades of experience in conducting studies and projects for space exploration and a wide-ranging network of industrial and academic partners, OHB is ideally positioned to take the lead in shaping the vision of a permanent European infrastructure on the lunar surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Establishment of an Innovation Center for Future Visions of the Moon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11490,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11488\/revisions\/11490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ohb.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}