NEC Corp. has opened a new facility for the assembly, integration and testing of satellites at its existing plant in Fuchu City, a suburb of Tokyo, Japan. The new Satellite Integration Center adds to the Fuchu plant's existing operations, and enables the company to assemble as many as eight satellites in parallel.
The new facility accommodates the construction of large scale satellites within a 50 m tall structure featuring a total floor area of 9,900 square meters, including a large chamber space and a large work room space with an interior height of more than 20 m. The facility was also built to withstand earthquakes stronger than six on Japan's seven-stage seismic scale.
Approximately 9.6 billion Yen was invested in the new facility, including the building and its equipment. This investment was partially subsidized by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Innovation Center Establishment Assistance Program. NEC invested approximately 7.6 billion Yen.
NEC has managed the integration of 67 satellites, including Osumi, Japan's first satellite, which launched in 1970, the Hayabusa space probe and the Hisaki spectroscopic planet observation satellite, launched on an Epsilon rocket in September 2013.
Going forward, the company aims for 100 billion Yen in space-related business by 2020. Starting in Asia, the company seeks to proactively meet satellite demand for emerging space programs by capitalizing on the capabilities of its compact satellite assembly plant in Sagamihara City, Kanagawa Prefecture, the new facility in Fuchu, which supports integrated production systems for NEC's advanced standard satellite bus, the NEC Next Generation Star (NEXTAR) series and the development of satellite infrastructure for environmental observation and disaster surveys.