Prodrive leads the space race

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket has blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida carrying satellite components manufactured by British motorsport business, Prodrive. The rocket will deploy the Cibola Flight Experiment payload developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the USA and will be used for ionospheric and lightning studies. The satellite’s special lightweight panels, which carry the imaging equipment, were manufactured by Prodrive in Banbury by combining the skills of its motorsport machining and composites operation. With increasing interest from the aerospace industry for its skills, Prodrive has now launched a new specialist manufacturing operation to produce components for businesses outside the automotive and motorsport sectors.