Space & Extraterrestrial
Launch sites and space facilities — the newest sector in the industry.
Space infrastructure is industrial construction at the frontier. The methods are borrowed from the heaviest ends of the existing sectors — corridor civils, massive foundations, industrial steel — linked below — but the loads are unusual: flame trenches and launch pads that are really heavy civils designed to be partially destroyed on purpose, and integration buildings that are really cleanrooms with cranes.
The two guides in this sector cover launch facility construction — pads, flame ducts and ground support equipment — and satellite assembly facilities, where spacecraft worth more than the building are integrated in controlled, clean conditions. Early days for the sector, big concrete regardless.
What does Space & Extraterrestrial cover?
Process guides in Space & Extraterrestrial
- Launch Facility & Pad Construction — Concrete, steel and water engineered to survive a rocket motor at arm's length — flame trenches, deluge systems, cryogenic farms and lightning masts, built for the ten most violent seconds in construction.
- Satellite Assembly & Integration Facilities — High-bay cleanrooms with cranes, test chambers that simulate orbit, and a security regime written by export-control lawyers — buildings where the product is worth more than the building.
Shared methods used in Space & Extraterrestrial
- Corridor Access & Enabling Works
- Survey Control & Ground Investigation
- Bulk Earthworks — Cuttings & Embankments
- Heavy Civils & Foundations
- Piling & Deep Foundations
- Concrete Frame Construction
- Steel Frame Construction
- Testing, Commissioning & Asset Handover
Part of the Industrial & Specialist Facilities group.