From Toulouse, Laura Todd visits Infinite Orbits’ brand-new facility to meet Marion Andrieux, the company’s Chief Commercial Officer, for a conversation about speed, mindset, and the industrialisation of European space.
Infinite Orbits is a NewSpace company that designs, develops and operates satellites which service other satellites. Andrieux outlines its two core in-orbit services: Orbit Guard, providing space-based surveillance and inspection of critical assets, and Endurance, a life-extension service that maximises the value of satellites already on orbit. The company began with geostationary orbit for a straightforward reason – the market. GEO is where satellite value is highest, averaging around $250 million each including launch, making servicing a clear return on investment for customers, whereas the individual value of spacecraft in lower orbits continues to fall.
The centrepiece of the visit is the new Assembly, Integration and Testing facility itself: 1,000 m² dedicated to spacecraft assembly, integration and testing, deployed and operational in just six months, with the first satellite entering integration in September and batch-production capability designed to accelerate future deployments. Andrieux is candid about how such speed is achieved. Infinite Orbits designs quickly, develops quickly, and has hired quickly – and when the team needed a factory, they needed it for tomorrow. The first thing you have to change, she explains, is the mindset; everything else follows.
She is also quick to share the credit, pushing back on the idea that Infinite Orbits stands alone. The NewSpace DNA, she argues, is genuinely present across Europe – the talent and the technology are already here, even if the continent does not always recognise it. Looking ahead, the company plans to keep accelerating: manufacturing more satellites, launching more of them, and investing in dedicated launches to deploy multiple spacecraft at once, year after year.
