After more than four decades of operating satellites built by external partners, Luxembourgish satellite pioneer SES is opening a new chapter.
Moving forward, a portion of its satellite development and integration will take place directly in Luxembourg. A new Space Campus planned for Kockelscheuer will provide high-tech infrastructure intended to serve not only SES, but the entire national space sector.
According to CEO Adel Al-Saleh, this strategic shift is a logical response to the sector’s rapid and profound transformation. In an interview with our colleagues from RTL Télé, he noted that the industry has become extremely dynamic and competitive, with the standards of past decades now being called into question. To reach its next stage of development, Al-Saleh stated, SES must bring key parts of the supply chain under its own control.
The market faces pressure from new competitors, rapid technological change, and partially fragile supply chains. SES’s answer is to build greater in-house expertise and assume more control over design, integration, and technology – while continuing to rely on its established international partners.
For Al-Saleh, basing this industrial expansion in Luxembourg was an obvious choice. Luxembourg is SES’s home, he stressed, citing the company’s excellent local engineers and advantageous location. He also highlighted the crucial role of the state, which he described as very supportive of the broader industry. Infrastructure, investment, regulations, and an advantageous ecosystem – all of this made Luxembourg an easy choice, he said.
The planned Space Campus in Kockelscheuer will be accessible to other companies in the sector. It will feature specialised test facilities that would typically be too costly for individual firms to develop alone. SES, in partnership with the state, aims to create a campus where new equipment can be tested and refined.
This initiative is also designed to cultivate new high-tech expertise within the country. Al-Saleh pointed out that while surrounding regions possess deep experience in automotive manufacturing, SES’s new project will foster specialised skills in high-tech production and satellite development. He explained that this expertise will be sourced partly from abroad and partly developed locally through collaboration with the University of Luxembourg.
The first engineers are scheduled to begin work at the new Kockelscheuer facility in March.
