SATELLITE CASE STUDY

In March 2007 components manufactured by Prodrive went into space for the first time.

Lightweight satellite panels we manufactured on behalf of Surrey Satellite Technology are now orbiting the earth on imaging satellites helping to take detailed images of the earth’s surface to monitor crops, fires, floods and other natural disasters.

The satellite panels were designed to survive the most extreme environment where temperatures can range from more than –200oC to 100oC. As a result, each panel underwent three separate inspections at different stages of the build process, finishing off with a mechanical vibration test to simulate the stresses the panels will experience during lift-off. With no pits for repairs while in orbit, component failure is not an option on a multi-million pound satellite.

Our motorsport experience means we are experienced at manufacturing very low volume, lightweight components for harsh environments making our skills readily transferable to the aerospace, performance yachting and defence sectors.

We also have a comprehensive specilalist manufacturing operation, with an extensive three, four and five axis CNC machining capability and our own composite operation, which already produces all the components for our race and rally cars.

In 2008, our manufacturing operation was accredited to aerospace quality system, AS9100.