Terran Orbital, a satellite manufacturing company, announced Monday that it will open the largest space vehicle manufacturing plant on Florida's Space Coast. It is expected to cost $300 million.
According to a statement, the 660,000-square foot factory will be able to produce thousands of different types space vehicles each year, including 1000 complete satellites as well as over 1,000,000 satellite components.
Terran Orbital was established in 2013 when it purchased Tyvak nanosatellite developer Tyvak. However, the company has kept a low profile ever since. Lockheed Martin purchased a small share of the company in 2017. Terran has a facility of 128,000 square feet in Irvine, California. However, Marc Bell, the CEO and cofounder, told TechCrunch that Terran does not disclose any information about its manufacturing capacity or number of satellites.
Terran Orbital, a contract manufacturer, designs, builds, and engineers satellites primarily for the U.S government. Bell stated that 95% of Terrans work was related to NASA and the Department of Defense. He declined to name any commercial customers.
Bell said that the company will also be creating its own satellite constellation. These satellites will employ a synthetic aperture radar, which can capture images through clouds and other weather conditions that could impact visibility like thunderstorms. Terran stated that it will begin launching these satellites in 2022.
The facility is expected to be complete in 2025. It should create around 2,100 jobs with an average wage of $84,000. Space Florida, the state's aerospace development authority, is financing the facility.
This announcement is the latest boost to Florida's Space Coast. The coast already has facilities owned by SpaceX and Blue Origin as well as Redwire. More than 1,200 satellites were successfully launched into space last year, nearly double the number that were sent to orbit in the previous year.
