Shaping the Future of Space Business

Francesco Barba is the Project Procurement Manager - Procurement Directorate at OHB System AG. He is responsible for coordinating and implementing all purchasing activities for the program. He also supervises the business development and change management.

Barba shared his expert insights for the 2025 edition of Aerospace and Defense Review. He has offered his valuable thoughts along with his 25 years of experience in the space business.

Leading with Responsibilities

I work on a large European development project involving multi-constellation satellites delivering strategic capabilities to defense and security customers. The project is funded by an EDF (European Defense Fund) grant and is realized by a consortium of more than 40 European space industries coordinated by OHB System. The consortium has been aggregated based on the key competences of each participant, and my role is to ensure that this industrial potential materializes in line with the contractual provisions.

During this development phase, the consortium is flat structured, where all participants have the same rights and duties toward the customers, namely the EU and the defense ministries of the supporting countries. One of the main objectives is to prepare for the implementation phase, where today’s partners will evolve into formal subcontractors. Our partners are very competent and committed, and they fully understand the importance of being part of this project in such a critical geopolitical time.

To build the mutual trust essential for success, a polyhedric set of skills is required. With over 20 years in the space business, I bring supply chain expertise across the product life cycle, combined with an engineering and business background. You need not be a specialist in a single domain, but you must understand all drivers, interdependencies, and how to prioritize them.

Trusted Partners for a Long Journey

I adopt the “total cost of ownership” approach. When you plan a long journey, you want the people you trust most beside you. All partners are characterized by a mix of qualitative and quantitative performance markers. In establishing long-term partnerships, it is vital to select the best combination. It is not about choosing the cheapest solution out of the received proposals; it is about investing your efforts with partners who, at the end of the procurement process, will have delivered the best products at the best conditions.

Let me remind you that we deal with prototypes, which means extensive development efforts, risks, and changes. It is a marvelous journey that often hides surprises, and you need trusted partners who share this approach and help, especially in difficult situations, rather than partners who only focus on profit. How a partner behaves during contractual changes is one of the clearest indicators of their honest attitude.

“Emerging countries are no longer emerging: they emerged, it’s a fait accompli, and in certain strategic disciplines (for example, stem), they are on par”

Over the years, you have built up experience working with many players. However, we do not sit on the past, as that would be a mistake, especially now that many new, aggressive yet motivated players are entering the space market. It is a revolution, and the opportunities from start-ups and new entrants enrich our supply chain. This is not only business or technical progress. It is a cultural change. The way these new companies bring fresh energy to our market must be recognized and awarded.

An Approach to Mitigate Risk

Space components are not the ultimate technology solutions. We can only use those able to deliver technical performance under the most challenging environmental conditions, such as temperature, pressure, and radiation. Mother Nature made it really hard. Top-notch commercial components, designed for human environments and produced at a large scale, cannot be used. There is no scale to justify investments for components with exclusive space applications. Instead, space components are usually derived from aerospace ones, modified and enhanced to guarantee the reliability required for space. This allows at least an acceptable level of competition among vendors. While not wide, it reduces monopoly risk and enables competition among a small pool of space-qualified suppliers.

Now something new is emerging. Beyond traditional MEO-GEO and deep space missions, many promising applications are based on VLEO assets. These are intriguing for end users, engineers, and investors alike. VLEO is gaining attention as the link between space and aerospace. Its environmental profile is lighter than MEO or GEO, and missions rely on large distributed fleets. This scale enables mass production and closer supply chains in the aerospace and commercial sectors. As a result, each VLEO satellite can be produced at far lower cost, yet deliver higher performance than traditional equipment. Reliability shifts from expensive single rad-hardened satellites to distributed resilience across constellations.

VLEO satellites will be deployed in quantity via suborbital launches, with rapid replacement in case of failure. This combination makes VLEO an attractive business, opening procurement opportunities for new and legacy applications. I strongly believe VLEO will be the next gold rush, worth every challenge it poses.

Realism: The Effective Leadership Practice

Realism: No illusions, no fake promises, just explain the world as it is. Emerging countries are no longer emerging: they emerged, it’s a fait accompli, and in certain strategic disciplines (for example, STEM), they are on par. During the last two decades, the internet and globalization have shortened distances and increased the quantity of available information (often redundant), but they have also extended the arena perimeter. To keep the technological edge, our institutions reacted by simplifying and modularizing the educational system. Universities were reorganized and tasked to increase their outcome in a shorter time. Closed-question tests do not help much; this way, students learn to move in a confined environment. The “building block” mindset can surely optimize the existing, but it does not really change the game. Also, the cacophony of the redundant information shall be filtered; the search for the consensus cannot be the measure of success. Instead, they need the pioneer mindset, the one that allows you to take the risks of sailing through uncharted waters. What does a pioneer do? Join the crowd or search for places where nobody is. And once your mission is accomplished, will you be there just sitting, or will you prepare yourself for the next?

Advice to Young Professionals

The advice I would give to the young professionals is to be humble and curious. Never stop learning. We do things that one day will fly in space: understand the physics and the economics behind what we do, and follow the numbers, not the opinions. Do not stop at the existing technology; always scout for new solutions. Build up solid professional networks with your business partners: listen to their experience and understand what moves them; they will inspire you, and their innovation can be your innovation.