Speaking to the press yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Étienne Schneider announced the creation of Blue Horizon in Luxembourg, a project aimed at the development of Innovative technologies allowing life in space. The company is partly owned by OHB Venture Capital in Munich and by LuxSpace in Betzdorf, both of which are subsidiaries of the German OHB SE group, which is the third largest European company active in the space sector.
Blue Horizon's ambition is to provide a sustainable way of life in space. By 2020, Blue Horizon aims to allow life on the Moon by making it possible to grow plants by extracting oxygen from lunar rocks. However, Blue Horizon does not focus exclusively on space, but also aims to improve living conditions on earth by working to revitalise devastated landscapes. To achieve these terrestrial and spatial development objectives, Blue Horizon uses life science technologies and techniques.
Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB SE said the company’s creation is a rational move.
"Blue Horizon is a logical step for OHB in the continued development of our business. We see terraforming as a significant future niche, a continuation of the HBO approach, focused on practice: deploying useful aeronautical activities to serve life on earth. Much of the know-how of OHB System AG is integrated into the new Blue Horizon company so that it can start its activities immediately."
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Étienne Schneider said, ”I am delighted that we have found OHB a major player in the space sector to support the SpaceResources.lu initiative, which aims to position Luxembourg as a European hub For the exploration and commercial use of space resources. The creation of Blue Horizon in Luxembourg and the terrestrial and space servicing activities that the company will carry out will ultimately contribute to consolidating the national biotechnology sector."
Image: Prof Dr Klaus Slenzka, OHB System AG, Marco Fuchs, OHB SE,Ettienne Schneider, Mathias Link, Minister of Economy, Gianaldo Mantovani, LuxSpace
