Greek satellite assembly and testing facility fully commissioned, ready to begin operations

14 Jul 2026

The Hellenic Assembly Integration and Testing Facility (HAITF) has reached operational status, opening its doors to the Greek and European space ecosystems to offer extensive assembly, integration and environmental testing capabilities for satellites. Implemented by the European Space Agency on behalf of the Hellenic Ministry of Digital Governance, the facility provides Greece with dedicated Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT) as well as Environmental Verification and Testing (EVT) capabilities for satellites and space equipment.

The HAITF is designed to support a wide range of space sector needs, from national satellite programmes and institutional missions to industrial and commercial activities requiring access to qualified AIT and test infrastructure. In doing so, the HAITF not only reinforces Europe’s distributed industrial capabilities, it also reduces Greece’s reliance on external facilities and gives it control of scheduling and prioritisation of space missions. What’s more, by attracting foreign missions, the HAITF constitutes a platform to cultivate national expertise and know-how by working on world-class space missions.

The facility includes an ISO 8 cleanroom, large and small thermal-vacuum chambers, a vibration test system with three-axis slip-table configuration, and associated control, instrumentation and data acquisition systems. Together, these assets provide the capability to perform assembly and integration activities in nearly 400 square meters of cleanroom area, plus thermal-vacuum testing, vibration testing and associated verification activities within Greece, for small satellites in the range up to 500kg and 1.5m³ volume.

The HAITF is hosted in Schimatari, on the premises of Hellenic Aerospace Industry S.A. (EAB/HAI), also the prime industry collaborator, the facility’s construction called upon expertise from across Europe – including the BCT Group (GR), together with Alexopoulos & Partners (GR), for the infrastructure and cleanroom works; Angelantoni Test Technologies / ACS (IT) for the Large Thermal Vacuum Chamber and Small Thermal Vacuum Chamber; Terma (NL) for the thermal data handling system; Plugin (FR) for thermal-vacuum chamber accessories and instrumentation; IMV Europe (UK/DE) for the Vibration Test System; Siemens (NL) for the vibration control and acquisition system; and SOL (GR) for the LN2 plant installation.

The completion and acceptance of all work orders for the HAITF marks the conclusion of a stringent certification process, and the acceptance of all major work packages on a project originally launched in 2023. This milestone closely follows the opening of the Holomondas Optical Ground Station in May 2026, and the final launch in the Greek Satellite Connectivity Programme into low Earth orbit. The Hellenic AIT Facility materialises the final piece in a strategy to build-up of Greece’s end-to-end ability to support independent satellite missions from conception to design, manufacturing, assembly and testing.

Greece’s strategy is funded by the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), with both its ground and space segments implemented by ESA under the Agency’s Greek Connectivity Programme. This collaborative approach firmly anchors the programme in the European space ecosystem, boosting in abilities in design, manufacturing, operation and ground station communications, and accelerating knowledge exchange.