Once the satellites are orbiting in space, they face vastly different conditions than on earth. For this reason, Luxembourg’s “Esail” satellite is currently being tested at Liege’s space centre under simulated space conditions.
Apart from SES, there are other companies in Betzdorf that are also active in the space sector. One of them is Luxspace. Since 2006, the company has been building satellites in Luxembourg. One of them is currently being tested in Liège. Satellites must operate under extreme environmental conditions and testing them before sending them off to space is therefore crucial. The Luxembourgish satellite is for example subjected to a vibration test (simulating take-off) and thermo-vacuum testing.
