SIGI Takes Flight: Reflex Aerospace’s Journey from the Test Bench to Orbit

In just a few days, SIGI, Reflex Aerospace’s first satellite, will begin its journey into space. For the team in Berlin and Munich, this marks the culmination of nearly three years of design, testing, and determination. At Reflex Aerospace, a European satellite manufacturer, the launch of SIGI isn’t just another milestone; it’s the realization of a vision to redefine how high-performance satellites are built and deployed.

In today’s space economy, data is the new gold, and the satellites that gather, transmit, and enable that data are the “shovels” of this modern gold rush. Reflex Aerospace builds those tools. The company doesn’t process the data itself; instead, it provides customers with robust, flexible satellite platforms that carry their instruments, their payloads, into orbit.

The satellite industry is expanding at record speed. From Earth-observation companies like Planet Labs, whose satellites monitor everything from deforestation in the Amazon to temperature changes over European cities, to cutting-edge manufacturers like Reflex, satellites have become an indispensable part of global infrastructure. They connect, observe, and protect, from monitoring environmental changes to supporting communications and national security.

As Walter Ballheimer, Reflex Aerospace’s co-founder and CEO, explains, Reflex enables these missions by building “the platforms that make modern data collection from space possible.” The company focuses on modular, customizable satellites in the 50–500 kg range, designed to launch faster and adapt to evolving mission needs; an approach that positions Reflex at the forefront of Europe’s NewSpace movement.

Now, as SIGI awaits its launch vehicle, the team prepares for the most rewarding moment of all: receiving the first signal from orbit. Once that happens, Reflex will have achieved what every space manufacturer dreams of: proof that innovation, collaboration, and engineering excellence can take an idea from the lab to low Earth orbit.