Satys Aerospace, established in Toulouse and a global pioneer in aircraft painting, is now expanding its operations into the space industry. The company has just put into operation a facility for painting satellite parts at its Blagnac location. Executives from Airbus and CNES attended its recent inauguration. This facility will be in charge of painting the deployable radiators for the OneSat programme, whose communications satellites will be put into service from geostationary orbit, as part of a partnership with Airbus.
Programme manager Philippe Didier says, “The painting of deployable satellite radiators is subject to particularly demanding specifications.” The coatings employed have infrared emissivity-related thermo-optical characteristics. They must make it easier for heat to dissipate and sunlight to absorb. Satys Aerospace was required to certify the painters, logisticians, and inspectors assigned to this unit due to the particular paint specifications needed for space applications. An airlock system has been installed in the space to eliminate contamination risks when unpacking and packing painting component packages. Satys made a million euro investment.
To design and construct this new production tool, two years of close collaboration with Airbus were invested in new machinery.
Gregory Mayeur, Managing Director of Satys Aerospace, expressed his excitement for the new collaboration with Airbus during the ceremony: “We are really proud of the successful cooperation between our two teams. Despite having substantial experience in the aeronautics industry and the highly specialised technical requirements of the painting industry, we have learned a lot from this new sector for space applications. Technical expansion and improvement are ingrained in Satys’ DNA.
Satys Aerospace aims to be able to form future agreements with other manufacturers to suit their demands for painting space equipment on the basis of this innovative industrial tool modified for use in space applications.
Source: traveldailymedia