Advanced Television

Terran Orbital extends sat production facility

March 23, 2023

By Chris Forrester

Terran Orbital, which recently won a 300 satellite order, worth $2.4 billion (€2.2bn) from Rivada Space Networks, says it is extending its satellite manufacturing facility at its Southern California factory. The order has an option for a second batch of 300 extra satellites.

Marc Bell, CEO of Terran Orbital, said it would lease an additional 8,700 square metres of manufacturing space in Irvine, California. The factory will include a production ‘high bay’ of 11 metres for assembling larger spacecraft.

This expansion is extra to an existing expansion of 5,600 square metres also in Irvine, now almost ready to come on line and scheduled for an April start.

The latest announcement will allow for integration and testing of satellites and designed to handle up to 250 satellites annually.

“This optimisation will enhance the efficiency and capacity of our entire production system,” Bell said. “When fully ramped, this addition [factory] has the potential to raise our satellite capacity to multiples of our prior 250-per-year target.” The new facility will be commissioned in 2024, he added.

However, the pressure is certainly on Terran given that Rivada must populate its constellation to deploy half of the overall fleet of 576 satellites by mid-2026, and to complete the constellation by mid-2028.

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