Manufacturer breaks into space sector with out of this world contract

A Derby manufacturer has won a contract to make parts that will be used in space.

Pentaxia has been selected Moog Inc. to design and manufacture complex tooling and subsequent composite components for the Small Launch Orbital Manoeuvring Vehicle (SL-OMV) project.

The SL-OMV is designed to deploy CubeSat constellations and guide small satellites to their final orbit. The first SL-OMV will be supplied by Moog Inc. to Lockheed Martin as part of the UK Spaceflight Programme, supported by the UK Space Agency.

The lightweight vehicle is a propulsive device to be used on rockets dedicated to the launch of small satellites.

Pentaxia’s sales director Tim Ollier said: “Pentaxia is delighted to be chosen by Moog Inc. to develop and manufacture critical structures for this exciting Space project.

“This is Pentaxia’s first major step into the space sector and the tooling and component requirements are extremely challenging. Nonetheless, it demonstrates our
expertise, reputation and “can-do” attitude in the global composite industry.

“Our team are truly world-class in their respective fields from tooling design and composite material knowledge, right through to manufacturing finished structures.
The SL-OMV project is a great opportunity to showcase this expertise and anticipate it to be the first of many future projects working closely with Moog.”

Pentaxia, which employs over 140 people from a 70,000 sq ft facility in Derby, will design and manufacture all tooling and composite activities in-house,