Just outside Turin, in the municipality of Settimo Torinese, a new industrial facility is aiming to bring the logic of the assembly line to satellite manufacturing. Stellar Hub, inaugurated on 28 October, is an 8,000-square-metre plant designed to assemble, integrate and test spacecraft weighing up to 600 kilograms. At its core sits a 2,000-square-metre clean room, one of the largest of its kind in Europe.
The facility is the work of Space Industries S.p.A., an Italian company founded in Turin in 2025 by the Comat group and Giuseppe Santangelo, an Italian-American entrepreneur with extensive aerospace experience. The firm already holds three contracts and employs around 40 people, with plans to exceed 200 staff by 2030 and reach annual turnover of €30 million in the same timeframe.
One roof, all stages
What distinguishes Stellar Hub is the concentration of all key production phases under a single roof. Assembly, integration and testing—known in the sector as AIT—are carried out on site, eliminating the need to move components between separate plants. The facility includes a thermal vacuum chamber and a vibration test area, allowing environmental, mechanical and transmission checks to be performed in one location.
The modular layout provides up to 12 separate integration areas, enabling several satellite programmes to run in parallel. This flexibility is intended to serve commercial, institutional and scientific customers, from single satellites to small and medium series and larger constellations.
“The goal is to industrialise satellite production, applying the efficiency and organisation typical of manufacturing to the space sector,” said a company spokesperson. The approach mirrors broader trends across Europe, where space manufacturing is increasingly borrowing from the playbook of high-volume industry.
The opening of Stellar Hub comes at a time when European space policy is under scrutiny, with debates over launch capacity and strategic autonomy. The facility is positioned to support both institutional missions and the growing demand for satellite constellations in communications and Earth observation.
For Italy, the investment reinforces the Piedmont region’s role in aerospace, complementing existing activities in Turin and Milan. It also adds to the continent’s industrial base at a moment when manufacturing confidence is recovering in parts of Europe.
Space Industries’ business model is built on serial production, a departure from the traditional craft approach to satellite building. By standardising processes and reducing lead times, the company hopes to make European satellites more competitive globally.
The company’s leadership sees Stellar Hub as a template for future expansion. “We are not just building a factory; we are creating a new industrial paradigm for space,” said Santangelo in a statement. The site’s location in Settimo Torinese, with good transport links to the rest of Italy and Europe, was chosen to facilitate logistics and collaboration with partners across the continent.
As Europe seeks to strengthen its space capabilities, initiatives like Stellar Hub could play a key role. The facility’s capacity to handle multiple programmes simultaneously may also attract international clients, particularly from countries looking to develop their own satellite infrastructure without building costly domestic facilities.
With the first satellites expected to roll off the line in the coming years, Space Industries is betting that the demand for smaller, more numerous spacecraft will continue to grow. If successful, Stellar Hub could become a model for other European manufacturers seeking to scale up production.
