Mura invests in Petrawell
- Erik de Ridder
- Mar 6
- 2 min read
Updated: Mar 7
3 March 2025
Mura Space is proud to announce its backing of the outstanding entrepreneurial team of engineers, technicians and founders behind Petrawell. We have acquired a significant stake in the company in order to support the team and help scale their vision. [Photo copyright of ASRI]
Petrawell is a leading design, material science and manufacturing business, soon to be based at new premises in Somerset West, Cape Town. The company supplies various, leading local and international clients and works in collaboration with different local institutions to develop and manufacture high performance composite aerospace components for test, as well as commercial vehicles. The company supports efforts that are instrumental to South Africa’s sovereign satellite launch capability re-development strategy.
Seasoned new space entrepreneur, James Barrington-Brown, will join the Petrawell Board of Directors, alongside Mura Head of Legal Strategy, Yvette Isaacs. James is the current Chairman and Founder of NewSpace Systems, and supports Mura as Chief Commercial Officer.
“We are very excited about our partnership with Petrawell and their leadership team. Petrawell has a unique pedigree, capacity and capability in the design and manufacture of specialist, ultra-high performance and cost-effective composite materials and components. These composite materials represent a key part of the future for lower-cost, lighter weight and higher performance reusable rockets. Cutting edge, precision composites are also widely used as lightweight, high strength alternatives for commercial satellites. Various applications in this domain include precision radomes, composite bus structures and other subsystems to encase flight-critical, optical and other measurement and tracking systems in satellites. Our objective is to support the business in continuing to scale up its impact, locally and globally, and building a world-class, space business with its roots in South Africa".
James Barrington-Brown, Mura Chief Commercial Officer
"To quote one of my heroes in the space community: 'It isn’t equipment that wins the battles; it is the quality and the determination of the people fighting for a cause in which they believe.'”
Philip Venter, Petrawell Chief Executive Officer.
About Petrawell
"Petrawell specializes in space-proven filament winding, offering unique solutions through customized manufacturing processes, materials, machines, and software. As a one-of-a-kind capability on the African continent, Petrawell leverages over 30 years of combined aerospace experience to support customers with their specialized mission requirements.
Research and development are at the core of Petrawell’s culture and business strategy, driving continuous innovation. The company’s technology is already making an impact in orbit—one commercial satellite and four components currently operate with Petrawell-engineered solutions, with two additional satellites set to incorporate Petrawell components in the near future."
About Mura Space
Mura is strategically focused on commercial investments, partnerships and infrastructure projects related to vertical and horizontal aerospace and space launch value chain, infrastructure and services markets.
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