Founded in 1958, the Hemelingen-based company had five employees at the time and was engaged in the construction and repair of electrical and hydraulic ship systems for the German Federal Armed Forces.

Together with MBB-ERNO as project leader and the Sarstedt shipyard, OHB won the contract for the construction of the MPOSS (Multi-Purpose Oil Skimming System) lead ship in 1984.

Manfred Fuchs' vision was to develop smaller and thus less expensive satellites; this was also one reason for renaming the company Orbital- und Hydrotechnologie Bremen-System GmbH in 1991.

Together with the Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM) at the University of Bremen, OHB developed BremSat, one of the first German small satellites.

OHB subsequently took the lead in the development of the major SAR-Lupe project, a satellite reconnaissance system on behalf of the Bundeswehr.

[14] With its investment in Rocket Factory Augsburg AG, the company has been participating in the development of a small launch vehicle (microlauncher) since 2018.

In 2023 OHB was taking the US financial investing company Kohlberg Kravis Roberts on board and withdrawed from the stock exchange.

[16] This segment focuses on the development and production of near-Earth and geostationary satellites for navigation, science, communications, Earth and weather observation and reconnaissance, including scientific payloads.

The participation Rocket Factory Augsburg AG is currently developing its own small launch vehicle (microlauncher) as a system supplier.

These include satellite operations, ground systems, antennas, optical and radio telescopes, and applications for transportation and mobility.

The company has been working on numerous German, European and international projects related to small satellites, crewed space flight as well as security and reconnaissance technologies.