July 15,  2025, Langley Mill, UK – Toray Advanced Composites, a global leader in high-performance composite materials, is pleased to announce it has signed a long-term supply agreement (LTA) with Airborne Aerospace B.V. to provide advanced composite materials for the production of solar array substrates for mega-constellation satellites.

With over four decades of space heritage and in-flight, mission critical reliability, Toray’s space qualified epoxy-based, carbon fibre-reinforced materials will be manufactured and supplied from Toray Advanced Composites’ European Centre of Excellence for thermoset systems in Langley Mill, UK, and used by Airborne in the manufacture of the solar array substrates and yoke panels. Produced to tight tolerances on fibre areal weight, resin content and slit width, the high-performance materials from Toray will be supplied in 6-inch (15cm) wide uni-directional prepreg tape format, enabling the efficiencies needed for the new space age, through high-volume production using Airborne’s robotic Automated Tape Laying (ATL) technology, specifically developed for space applications.

Enabling Scalable, Affordable, and Reliable Space Power

“With over 40 years of space-flight heritage, Toray is proud to support the next generation of LEO satellite constellations with our flight-proven material systems,” states Claire Baker, Development Lead, Space & Comms, Toray Advanced Composites. “Our lightweight composites offer the ideal combination of high stiffness, excellent toughness, and low outgassing—which when combined with their proven inflight reliability makes them perfectly suited for demanding space environments and for automated, scalable manufacturing.”

Ms Baker continues, “As the space sector moves toward high-rate production, automation is key. Airborne demonstrates how advanced carbon fibre composites and smart manufacturing enable the performance, scalability, and affordability needed to expand global access to space.”

Sandor Woldendorp, Director Aerospace, Airborne “This LTA is the result of many years of close collaboration between Toray and Airborne on the development and manufacturing of spacecraft structures. Our companies share a vision on making composites affordable and scalable for new space.”