Press Release
86 receivers for next-generation radio telescope: OHB Digital Connect signs contract with Square Kilometre Array Observatory
Mainz/Berlin, November 4, 2025.OHB Digital Connect has been awarded a contract to supply 86 highly sensitive receivers for the SKA Observatory (SKAO), one of the largest scientific endeavours in the world. The SKA radio telescopes, currently under construction in Australia and South Africa, are set to revolutionize astronomical research.
Germany has been a member of the SKAO for just under a year, and the contract, worth €10.7 million, signed during the launch event of the "Hightech Agenda Germany" in the presence of Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space Dorothee Bär, is the first to be awarded to a German company.
“The collaboration between SKAO and OHB Digital Connect strengthens the technological sovereignty and innovative power of Germany and Europe,” said Bär. “I am delighted that both the Max Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Bonn and the new German Center for Astrophysics in Görlitz are able to contribute their considerable expertise here This project is an excellent example of how the German Hightech Agenda leverages multiple drivers of innovation.”
The receivers supplied by OHB Digital Connect will be integrated into the South African part of the SKA, known as the SKA-Mid array. Specifically, they are single-pixel receivers for the frequency bands 5a (4.6-8.5 GHz) and 5b (8.3-15.4 GHz), the highest frequency range that the SKA-Mid telescopes will observe.
“It’s a great pleasure to celebrate this significant SKAO construction contract for German industry during the launch of the national high-tech agenda, and in the presence of Minister Bär,” said Dr. Simon Berry, SKAO Deputy Director-General. “It reinforces not only the expertise that Germany has in radio astronomy technology, which is renowned, but also how membership of the SKAO enables national industry to stay at the cutting edge by developing the next-generation technologies which are essential for our telescopes.”
“This project is another important milestone for us as we expand our position as a leading system provider for ground-based astronomy and strengthen our long-standing partnerships with the scientific community”, said Dennis Winkelmann, Managing Director at OHB Digital Connect. “We are proud to contribute to this groundbreaking project and are grateful for the trust placed in us by the SKAO.”
“The MPIfR has been involved in the SKA project since its inception, and it is deeply gratifying to see the telescope being realized, thanks in no small part to the expertise of the institute,” said Michael Kramer, who, as director of the MPIfR, has played a leading role in Germany's participation in this major radio astronomy project.
“The MPIfR has been involved in the SKA project since its inception, and it is deeply gratifying to see the telescope being realized, thanks in no small part to the expertise of the institute,” said Michael Kramer, who, as director of the MPIfR, has played a leading role in Germany's participation in this major radio astronomy project.
Following successful acceptance of the five prototypes, series production of the remaining 81 receivers will take place at OHB Digital Connect's premises in Mainz.
Signature at the High-Tech Agenda Germany kick-off event. © BMFTR/Hans-Joachim Rickel
About OHB Digital Connect
OHB Digital Connect is a subsidiary of the Bremen-based space and technology group OHB SE.
Our mission: We establish the connection between the ground and space and bring satellite data into application.
We.Connect.Space.
Media Contact
Pia Bausch
Corporate Communications
Phone: +49 421 2020 6511
Email: pia.bausch@ohb.de