Beyond Gravity is the space-oriented segment of the Swiss technology group

RUAG RUAG Holding (originally Rüstungs Unternehmen Aktiengesellschaft; Joint Stock Defence Company) is a Swiss company specialising in aerospace engineering and the defence industry. Its headquarters are located in Bern, while it also has numerous pr ...

. At a total of fourteen sites in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

( Zurich, Emmen and Nyon),

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

(

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

, Linköping),

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

(

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

( Coswig),

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

(

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Titusville, Decatur) and

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

(

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Berndorf), Beyond Gravity employs around 1,265 people and posted sales of 339 million Swiss Francs in 2019. As a supplier of Arianespace, Beyond Gravity is also a shareholder, with 0.82% of capital in 2018.

History

Beyond Gravity is a segment of the Swiss technology group RUAG, with locations in Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Germany, USA and Austria. The company began in the late 1970s as a subcontractor of Oerlikon Contraves (later named Oerlikon Space) carrying out final assembly of payload fairings for

Ariane Ariane may refer to: *Ariana (name), also Ariane, Arianne Arts * ''Ariane'' (Martinů), an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, first performed 1961 * ''Ariane'' (Massenet), an opera by Jules Massenet, first performed 1906 * ''Ariane'' (film), a 1931 ...

rockets. These activities took place at Emmen,

. Over the years, it expanded primarily through acquisitions. First, the Swiss government owned company took over the companies Mecanex (Nyon) and HTS (Wallisellen). In 2008, it acquired the Swedish SAAB Space and its subsidiary Austrian Aerospace. In the following years, the company expanded further. In 2015 a site in Tampere,

was acquired. The facility in Finland has 40 employees. By 2015, RUAG Space USA (later named Beyond Gravity USA) had 4 sites in 4 different states. In 2018, 109 employees were working in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

at sites in Decatur, Alabama;

Titusville, Florida Titusville is a city in eastern Florida and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida, United States. The city's population was 43,761 as of the 2010 United States Census. Titusville is located along the Indian River (Florida), Indian River, west ...

; and Denver (Centennial), Colorado. During 2016 the company HTS GmbH in Coswig near

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

was acquired as the first site in

. After a two year consolidation period, the name was changed to RUAG Space Germany GmbH. In 2018, the Swedish branch of the company, RUAG Space AB (later named Beyond Gravity AB), had 332 employees in

and 120 employees in Linköping, with two subsidiaries in Austria and Finland. This branch specializes in related equipment, for example on-board computer systems, antennas and microwave electronics for satellites and adapters and separation systems for launchers. The company headquarters is located in Gothenborg, Sweden and a division for mechanical systems is situated in Linköping, Sweden. In May 2015, the company had 415 employees. It was originally started as a joint venture between SAAB and

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...

as ''Saab Ericsson Space'' until Ericsson sold its stake to SAAB together with Saab Microwave Systems in 2006. On May 1, 2022, to reflect the change of visions of the company and the focus towards the highly dynamic space sector, RUAG Space was re-branded to Beyond Gravity. As a result of its European origins, Beyond Gravity has been part of many European space missions, but is also building a US market presence. Notable scientific spacecraft to use Beyond Gravity components include the

Herschel Space Observatory The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched until the launch of the James Webb Space Telesc ...

, Planck,

Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) is a satellite which forms part of ESA's Living Planet Programme. It is intended to provide new insights into Earth's water cycle and climate. In addition, it is intended to provide improved weather foreca ...

, BepiColombo,

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

Solar Orbiter The Solar Orbiter (SolO) is a Sun-observing satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). SolO, designed to obtain detailed measurements of the inner heliosphere and the nascent solar wind, will also perform close observations of the ...

, Automated Transfer Vehicle,

Aeolus In Greek mythology, Aeolus or Aiolos (; grc, Αἴολος , ) is a name shared by three mythical characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which A ...

, and ICESat2. Beyond Gravity products also fly on the

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads int ...

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, an ...

, Falcon 9, and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

launch vehicles.

Payload fairings

Beyond Gravity manufactures

payload fairing A payload fairing is a nose cone used to protect a spacecraft payload against the impact of dynamic pressure and aerodynamic heating during launch through an atmosphere. An additional function on some flights is to maintain the cleanroom environm ...

s for a number of launchers, including Arianespace's Ariane and

rockets,

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance (ULA), legally United Launch Alliance, LLC, is an American spacecraft launch service provider that manufactures and operates a number of rocket vehicles that are capable of launching spacecraft into orbits around Earth, a ...

's Atlas 5 500 series, and for ULA's forthcoming

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

launcher. A payload fairing protects the payload from the environment during the ascent, ensuring cleanliness and limiting its exposure to the intense noise, vibration and aerodynamic pressure occurring during launch. Once the dynamic pressure and thermal fluxes fall below a threshold, this structure separates via explosives from the launch vehicle, exposing the payload and reducing the mass of the still accelerating vehicle. Payload fairings consist of a sandwich structure, with a core of aluminum honeycomb and facesheets of

carbon fiber reinforced polymer Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers (Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon compo ...

. Whereas previous processes relied on

autoclaves An autoclave is a machine used to carry out industrial and scientific processes requiring elevated temperature and pressure in relation to ambient pressure and/or temperature. Autoclaves are used before surgical procedures to perform sterilizat ...

to cure the composite material, since 2016 the company transitioned to an Out-of-autoclave approach. With this approach, each fairing half-shell is cured in an

industrial oven Industrial ovens are heated chambers used for a variety of industrial applications, including drying, curing, or baking components, parts or final products. Industrial ovens can be used for large or small volume applications, in batches or c ...

as one single piece. In addition to increasing the structural efficiency, this approach reduces the processing steps as it consolidates all parts at once: inner and outer skins, honeycomb sandwich core, and external

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

-based thermal protection system.

References

External links

RUAG Space WebsiteWebsite RUAG Space Products
{{Authority control Aerospace companies of Sweden Aerospace companies of Switzerland Manufacturing companies based in Zürich