ANDOVER — At the turn of the century, a few hundred satellites dotted the sky.
Two decades later there are now around 10,000.
Essential parts of these orbital machines, which do anything from enable vital communication to aid in weather forecasting, are now being made in Andover.
On Thursday, Oct. 26, EPC Space, which designs semiconductors for satellites, held a grand opening outside their 15,000 square foot plant off Bulfinch Drive. According to the company’s CEO Bel Lazar, there are two things that make the company unique.
First, according to Lazar, it is the only company using gallium in semiconductors bound for space. He said gallium is superior to silicone, the material used traditionally, because it can handle more power, more heat and can be more effectively “radiation hardened.”
He said the chips in Andover are all about making energy conversion efficient.
“In space you want to be very efficient, you don’t want to lose power,” he said.
The company designs and produces chips hermetically sealed for use in space. The company rigorously tests the components before they are shipped out to customers. This is the second unique aspect about the company, said Lazar.
“We make sure all of the products are going to survive in space for between 15 and 20 years,” he said, and withstand radiation.
Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC, EPC Space’s parent company, said satellites have changed a lot in the last two decades.
“It used to be somebody would put up a very expensive satellite into geosynchronous orbit,” said Lidow. “But in later years as launchers got much cheaper people started putting up small satellites and a lot of them up in low earth orbit.”
This is partially the result of lower cost launches such as those tech billionaire Elon Musk offers with SpaceX.
The company moved from a 8,000 square feet building in Haverhill, Lazar said, because it was not designed for such work.
EPC Space has invested about $1 million in the Andover site and they will continue to invest between $1 million and $1.5 million a year in equipment at the site, said Lazar. Equipment includes machines used to test their product.
The company under its name started in June 2020 with seven employees, said Lazar. The company now has 25.
Max Zafrani was a cofounder of the original iteration of the company known as Freebird Semiconductor, which was started in 2015. He serves as chief technical officer for EPC Space.
Zafrani said their work began in a living room with five people. The group came up with the companies initial naming after hearing the song “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd in a bar. He said the word bird used to be a name for satellites and free came from their desire to be free from a corporation controlling them.
Lazar said the company’s goal is to dominate the market in the next five to seven years.