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tl;dr German sources say they did not fully test the functionality and deployment of the satellite antennas on the ground.
by isaacfrond 2y ago
tl;dr
German sources say they did not fully test the functionality and deployment of the satellite antennas on the ground.
- bell-cot 2y ago> According to the Der Spiegel report, the Bundeswehr says the two SARah satellites built by OHB remain the property of the German company and would only be turned over to the military once they were operational. As a result, the military says OHB will be responsible for building two replacement satellites. > Shockingly, the German publication says that its sources indicated OHB did not fully test the functionality and deployment of the satellite antennas on the ground. This could not be confirmed. > This setback comes as OHB is attempting to complete a deal to go private—the investment firm KKR is planning to acquire the German space company. OHB officials said they initiated the effort to go private late last year because public markets had "structurally undervalued" the company. Perhaps the public markets were quite correct to apply a hefty Incompetence Discount to OHB's value? These are hardly the first expensive satellites to have suffered Antenna Deployment Failures, for "that never happened before" excuses to apply.