Berlin Aerospace Center
The aerospace industry is one of the capital region's most important future industries. It combines a high level of innovation with sophisticated technology.
The capital region ranks among the three most important locations for aerospace technology in Germany. With global players such as Planet Labs, Rolls-Royce and MTU, world-renowned aerospace companies are in the region. In their environment there are many opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises as suppliers or in the service, security, or IT sectors. They all benefit from exceptionally high scientific and research potential in the capital region.
Why Berlin?
„Small satellites are the future of space travel. Berlin is both where this technology was born and remains its most important location in Germany. For more than 20 years, this innovation has taken place in companies, research institutes, and universities. The value chain from system technology to the marketing of data products is at home here in the capital region.“
Facts and figures
- About 7,500 specialists, technicians and engineers work for aerospace companies in the capital region
- Approximately 17,000 employees work in the aviation industry
- Venue of the Innovation and Leadership in Aerospace Berlin (ILA), the third largest trade fair in the world in this segment, and one of the highest-selling
- Optimal networking in and with the regional aerospace industry via the Berlin-Brandenburg Aerospace Alliance (BBAA)
- Regional core competencies of the companies in satellite technologies, propulsion technology, maintenance, overhaul and repair (aircraft maintenance), simulation, testing, engineering and software development as well as the design of urban airspace (UAM)
Competence Center for Aerospace Technologies and New Space
Traditionally, the regional aerospace sector has been characterized by the small satellite segment. Three players in the region produce complete small satellites: Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH, Berlin Space Technologies, and TU Berlin. TU Berlin is the university with the most satellites in orbit worldwide.
A growing number of start-ups in Berlin are working on "New Space." In 2021, for example, the Berlin-based start-up LiveEO GmbH used satellite data to analyse the entire US electricity grid of more than 7 million miles for the first time.
More than 70 companies, training institutes (e.g. beSpace GmbH), and research centers (e.g. DLR, HU Berlin, Ferdinand Braun Institut), which are anchored in the capital region, are pursuing space and with their various expertise and specializations, form a holistic, interdisciplinary, regional center of competence for aerospace technologies and applications.
Regional drone technologies are conquering the market
Civil unmanned aerial systems have recently been added to the established activities. Here there is great deal of momentum in terms of applications and services. More than 60 players from the field of research (e.g. DAI Labor, the European Aviation Security Center), development (e.g. germandrones GmbH, Multirotor Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, BärDrones), and application (e.g. Airteam) are helping to make the capital region a leading unmanned flying location. Urban airspace is being utilised by model projects such as the transport of laboratory samples and medicines on the premises of the Berlin Charité.
Research environment
Companies and suppliers in the aerospace industry benefit from the expertise of a strong regional research network:
- TU Technical University of Berlin (Raumfahrttechnik, Logistics, Mechanical Engineering and Transport Systems)
- Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg
(Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg - BTU) - Wildau Technical University of Applied Sciences
(Technische Hochschule Wildau) - Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences
(TH Brandenburg a. d. Havel) - Fraunhofer Institute IAP - Polymercomposites PYCO
- Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology
(Fraunhofer Institut für Produktionsanlagen und Konstruktionstechnik - IPK) - BHT Berliner Hochschule für Technik
- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
- European Aviation Security Center EASC e.V.
- Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing
(Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und Prüfung - BAM) - German Aerospace Center
(Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. - DLR) - GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences
(GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung) - HU Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
- FBH Ferdinand-Braun-Institut
The Fraunhofer Institutes and the German Aerospace Center in Berlin have oriented their capacities and qualifications toward aerospace-relevant fields and take on research and development contracts from the region's aerospace industry.
In 1963, TU Berlin was the first university in Germany to establish a chair in space technology. Now one of the world's most prestigious chairs on the subject, TU Berlin is also the university with the most satellites in orbit.
In addition, the University of Potsdam runs a research center for public law, media law and air and space law.
The MERTIS mission of the German Aerospace Center is travelling to map Mercury's temperatures. The telescope project PLATO has been on its way to Mercury under direction from Berlin since 2018, and will measure the atmosphere of planets outside our solar system. In 2020, some instruments were already tested on Venus as part of the flyby.
