Hanselmann GmbH was awarded a research contract by the ITER consortium in 2024 to develop a process that enables the validated cleaning of critical technical components inside the ITER reactor.
The contract was concluded because Hanselmann has been a permanent member of the C3 consortium for several years and can create cleanroom environments where they are needed with its ProTect product.
In addition, ITER is the second largest construction site in human history, comparable to the construction of the International Space Station.
Almost everything in these projects is new territory that is now being built, motivated by quantum physics and the ingenious findings of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking.
The reactor requires a very stable magnetic field to control the plasma; impurities in critical areas can jeopardise the entire project.
At the beginning of July 2025, a team from Hanselmann and OHB Weßling was busy physically setting up the process in the ITER reactor, carrying out the cleaning, which had previously been considered impossible, and validating it if successful.
After a week at ITER, it was done.
The goal was achieved after a preparation period of more than 12 months in cooperation with the Technical University in Dublin, OHB Weßling, Merkle Heidenheim (simulation and visualisation). The hardware components were manufactured, tested and optimised for the order in Ireland as well as in Hohenlohe.
This project is special in many ways.
CEO and company founder Friedrich Hanselmann describes it like this.
The visionary orientation of our company has enabled us to build up a global and cross-industry network of expertise.
Today we are reaping what we sowed years ago.
Mr Friedrich Hanselmann was called by the chief physicist of a leading aerospace company. He thanked us for finalising a temporary clean room loading zone for a European 850 million euro satellite in record time and within budget at the beginning of August 2025.
In this loading zone, the satellite was packed into a special transport box on 20 August 2025; the filters in the transport box were also designed by Hanselmann and manufactured in the laboratory by a European filter manufacturer.
Tests had revealed that the filter system of the transport box was damaged.
Thanks to Hanselmann's efforts, the delivery date for the satellite was met.
Hanselmann GmbH is a leader with its in-house developments for the pharmaceutical, optical, microelectronics and aerospace industries.
