Rakon announces that its new ISO-8 cleanroom in Pont-Sainte-Marie, France, dedicated to producing space subsystems for the next generation of satellite constellations, is now fully operational. The facility expands Rakon’s Space manufacturing footprint in France and significantly increases production capacity for its flight-ready Space GNSS Receivers and Master Reference Oscillator (MRO) subsystems, two cornerstone products for precision timing, navigation and synchronization in orbit.
The new cleanroom complements Rakon’s existing Quartz and Ultra Stable Oscillator cleanrooms, reinforcing the company’s role as a trusted provider of mission-critical, end-to-end timing solutions for a broad range of space applications. Spanning nearly 1,080 sq. ft. (100 m²), the cleanroom has been purpose-built to support high-reliability manufacturing, from incoming material control to final subsystem assembly and radiation testing. The line is configured to scale quickly in response to customer demand, enabling Rakon to deliver against multiple large-scale constellation orders already in production, while providing headroom to satisfy the company’s highest-ever space backlog and multi-year pipeline.
“Customers are looking for assured capacity and clear delivery timelines,” said Chloe Gautrin, Rakon Managing Director, Aerospace and Defence. “This cleanroom allows us to scale production to meet increasing customer demand at the quality and consistency demanded by modern space missions.”
Immediate throughput from the French facility will support up to 300 MROs per year and 1,200 Space GNSS Receivers per year. As existing programmes ramp up and new customers come on board, the site is designed to reach a long-term capacity of 600 MROs per year and 3,000 Space GNSS Receivers per year.
The cleanroom is ISO-8 certified, meeting ISO 14644-1 Class 8 requirements for air cleanliness by particle concentration, providing a controlled environment suitable for high-reliability electronics assembly and space subsystem integration and testing. For customers, that translates into enhanced product consistency and robust mission assurance; critical factors for satellites that are expected to operate for years in orbit without failure.
Rakon’s MRO subsystems deliver ultra-stable frequency references and precision timing that underpin satellite communications links and cross-sat synchronization, while its Space GNSS Receivers provide resilient, high-accuracy positioning and timing for navigation, orbit determination and time transfer. Together, these subsystems help spacecraft maintain synchronization and performance even through radiation events, temperature extremes, and GNSS signal disruptions.
“With this investment, we’re not just adding square footage. We’re adding assured capacity for our customers’ most demanding missions,” added Gautrin.
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