Sodern manufacturing. Photo: Sodern

Sodern is expanding to the U.S., adding manufacturing for its star trackers in Colorado. The French company announced the establishment of Sodern America on Jan. 14, hiring longtime space executive Tiphaine Louradour as CEO of the subsidiary. 

Louradour and Sodern CEO Vincent Dedieu told Via Satellite the goal of the expansion is to better meet the needs of the U.S. market and expand its business in the U.S. It’s a significant expansion for Sodern, marking its first subsidiary outside of France. 

“We’re already very close to our customers, but having boots on the ground gives us the ability to better understand our customers, their needs, and evolution in the marketplace,” Louradour said. “We currently have 40-plus customers in the U.S. It is a growing market and a very important market for Sodern.” 

Tiphaine Louradour

Sodern will be establishing full production and manufacturing in the United States for the flagship Auriga star tracker, as well as advanced testing facilities for the higher performance Hydra star trackers. 

Sodern has been considering the expansion for a number of years, Dedieu said. The company has been monitoring the U.S. tariffs on non-U.S. goods, but the tariffs over the past year are not the reason for the expansion.

“The decision to open Sodern America was driven by our discussions with customers and their conviction that there is a market that will be more accessible when we are in the U.S. instead of serving the U.S. market from France,” Dedieu said. “That being said, we have been following the tariffs very closely. It has been complicating a bit our way to build our business plan when it was evolving quite fast. Hopefully it has stabilized so we can propose an optimized price policy to our customers.”

Louradour cited the choice of Colorado as a space hub in the U.S. with access to customers on both coasts. Sodern will be starting construction in the coming weeks and anticipates opening the office in the mid-summer. Production in Colorado is set to start in the later part of this year. 

Louradour stressed the importance of bringing the reliability that its star trackers are known for to the new production facility. 

“We will take the time that’s required to ensure that the reliability and quality that Sodern has been known for since the ‘60s remains, 100% mission success to date,” she said. “It will have the same production equipment, the same materials they use in France. We’re going to have extensive training of the production, quality, and supply teams. They’ll be both trained here and in France as well.” 

Sodern’s star trackers are used on satellites across orbits and applications, by prime contractors and commercial companies, including startups. Its customers include Lockheed Martin, AST SpaceMobile, Varda Space Industries, and others. The company is also expanding into space cameras, which are used for rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) and space situational awareness. 

Louradour is looking to hire a team in the U.S., first focusing on roles in business development, production quality, and supply chain. 

Louradour has been working as a U.S. business partner for Sodern for the past two years. She was a longtime executive for United Launch Alliance, then served as president of International Launch Services (ILS) and most recently CEO of rideshare integrator Spaceflight, where she oversaw its acquisition by Firefly Aerospace.