A world leader in aircraft painting, Toulouse-based Satys Aerospace is now extending its activities into the space sector. At its Blagnac site, the group has just commissioned a facility dedicated to the painting of satellite parts. It was recently inaugurated in the presence of Airbus and CNES executives. As part of a partnership with Airbus, this site will be responsible for painting the deployable radiators for the OneSat program, whose communications satellites will be commissioned from geostationary orbit.
“The painting of deployable satellite radiators is subject to particularly demanding specifications,” explains Philippe Didier, program manager for this new activity. The coatings used have thermo-optical properties linked to infrared emissivity. They must facilitate the absorption of sunlight and the dispersion of heat”. Due to the specific paint requirements for space applications, Satys Aerospace had to qualify the personnel – painters, logisticians, and inspectors – assigned to this unit. The room is now equipped with an airlock system to prevent any risk of contamination during unpacking and packing of components for painting. Satys invested one million euros
in new equipment and worked closely with Airbus for two years to design and build this new production tool.
At the inauguration, Gregory Mayeur, Managing Director of Satys Aerospace, welcomed the new partnership with Airbus: “We are very proud of the successful cooperation between our two teams. Technically, the painting business is very specific, and despite our extensive experience in aeronautics, we have learned a lot from this new space applications market, through the high-quality standards it demands. Constantly improving and expanding our technical expertise is in Satys’ DNA”.
On the strength of this new industrial tool adapted to space applications, Satys Aerospace hopes to be able to enter future partnerships with other manufacturers to meet their space equipment painting needs.
