Develops and manufactures flight-qualified composite pressure vessels (COPVs) for launch vehicles and satellites.

Blackwave GmbH

Taufkirchen · Garching · San Antonio, TXNew on Amplifa

2016Founded

>150Employees

3Sites (DE, USA)

COPVsProduct portfolio with flight heritage

About Blackwave

Blackwave GmbH is a space company founded in 2016 and based in Taufkirchen near Munich. The company develops and manufactures flight-qualified, series-production-ready Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs) – composite pressure vessels – for launch vehicles and satellites. Manufacturing is based on filament winding technology with carbon fiber composites and metal components; in addition, carbon fiber structures are produced. Blackwave offers a standardized product portfolio with flight heritage and reduces the lead time for COPVs from months to days. The company employs more than 150 staff at locations in Germany (Taufkirchen, Garching) and the USA (San Antonio, Texas), where cleaning, inspection and logistics take place.

Site: Taufkirchen
Processes: Winding (filament winding for pressure vessels), Manufacturing of Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs), Cleaning, Inspection, Engineering (R&T, Engineering), Design and manufacturing of flight-qualified COPVs (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels), Manufacture of carbon fiber structures, Standardized product portfolio with flight heritage
Materials: Composite/carbon fiber (carbon fiber), Metal, Carbon fiber composite (composite)
Certificates: ISO 9001 (QMS Germany; certification for Texas site in progress), ISO 9001, Certification in progress
Founded: 2016
Employees: >150
Industries: Space (rockets/launch vehicles), Satellites

01
Engineering (R&T, Engineering)
02
Winding (filament winding for pressure vessels)
03
COPV manufacturing
04
Cleaning
05
Inspection
06
Logistics

Materials & Processes

CFRP

Carbon fiber composite (composite)

Fiber composite material for winding lightweight, high-strength pressure vessels.

Metall

Metal

Metal components for the development of advanced COPV technologies.

Sites

Taufkirchen

Headquarter: R&T, Engineering, Offices

Materials: Carbon fiber composite, metal

Garching

Production site

Materials: Carbon fiber composite, metal

Winding machines

San Antonio, TX

US site: cleaning, inspection, logistics

Components

**COPV pressure vessels for space applications**Filament winding · Space

**Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel**Winding · Launch vehicles/satellites

**COPV after burst test**Manufacturing and testing · Space

Inside the production

Industries

Space (rockets/launch vehicles)Satellites

Processes & technical limits

Processes	Tolerance	Max. part	Weight	Lot size	Materials
Winding (filament winding for pressure vessels)Additive	–	–	–	–	Composite/carbon fiber, Metal
Manufacturing of Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs)Joining	–	–	–	–	Composite/carbon fiber, Metal
CleaningSurface	–	–	–	–	–
InspectionTesting	–	–	–	–	–
Engineering (R&T, Engineering)Engineering	–	–	–	–	–

Additional services

Design and manufacturing of flight-qualified COPVs (Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels)Manufacture of carbon fiber structuresStandardized product portfolio with flight heritageReduction of lead time from months to daysCleaning, inspection and logistics (Texas)

Quality

Blackwave operates an ISO 9001-compliant quality management system in Germany; certification for the US site in Texas is being pursued. Quality assurance includes process controls across the entire product life cycle, structured root cause analysis (8D, Ishikawa, 5-Why) as well as internal, customer and certification audits.

Evidence	Taufkirchen	San Antonio, TX
ISO 9001
Certification in progress

History

2016
Founding of Blackwave GmbH, headquarters near Munich