Toray Advanced Composites, Airborne Aerospace partner for solar array materials

Toray Advanced Composites has entered a long-term supply agreement with Airborne Aerospace, based in The Hague, Netherlands, to deliver advanced composite materials for manufacturing solar array substrates for mega-constellation satellites.

Toray will supply space-qualified, epoxy-based carbon fibre-reinforced materials. These materials will be produced at Toray’s European Centre of Excellence for thermoset systems in Langley Mill, UK, and will be used by Airborne to manufacture solar array substrates and yoke panels.

Toray’s high-performance materials are produced with precise control over fibre areal weight, resin content, and slit width. The company will supply the materials as six-inch-wide unidirectional prepreg tapes, designed for high-volume production using Airborne’s robotic automated tape laying (ATL) technology, which has been customised for space applications.

Sandor Woldendorp, aerospace director at Airborne, added: “This agreement reflects years of close collaboration between Toray and Airborne in developing and manufacturing spacecraft structures. Our shared vision is to make composites both affordable and scalable for emerging space applications.”