Satellite manufacturer to invest $300M in Space Coast, create more than 2K jobs, DeSantis says

Last updated on November 21, 2021

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Terran Orbital Corp. will invest $300 million in a Space Coast satellite manufacturing facility that will create 2,100 high-wage jobs, a project previously referred to as “Project Kraken.”, to the Space Coast by bringing its commercial spacecraft and constellation facility to Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility.

The new project is expected to create more than 2,000 new jobs with an estimated annual wage of $84,000 by the fourth quarter of 2025, DeSantis said.

The new campus will handle everything involved in the satellite manufacturing process “from the smallest components to the final product,” DeSantis said, including the creation of circuit boards and space vehicles.

“Satellite manufacturing is an important part of the economy here in the Space Coast and this really ups the ante,” DeSantis said.

“We know that this will have a hugely positive impact on this area,” he added.

The facility will be located at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility, the former landing site for the Space Shuttle Program next to Kennedy Space Center.

Terran Orbital CEO Mark Bell said he’s thrilled to make the move. “For us, Space Florida is the perfect place to tell the world who we are,” Bell said.

The company, headquartered in Boca Raton and Torino, Italy, will create the jobs by fourth-quarter 2025, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced in Merritt Island on Sept. 27.

The facility will rise at the Launch and Landing Facility, a launch and reentry site operated by statewide spaceport authority Space Florida in the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Space Florida first began negotiations with Terran for a potential expansion in March.

High-wage work

The satellite production facility’s first phase will include 660,000 square feet of space capable of making 1,000 satellites each year. Terran Orbital picked the Space Coast as an expansion site because of the hub of aerospace companies around the Launch and Landing Facility, the region’s skilled workforce and Florida’s “business-friendly environment,” Terran CEO and co-founder Marc Bell said on Sept. 27.

This expansion to Brevard County will generate high-wage jobs for the area, as the Terran Orbital positions will pay an average annual wage of $84,000.

Space Coast Expansion

The Launch and Landing Facility is receiving investment to improve its allure for companies like Terran Orbital. Space Florida this summer kicked off the first phase of development of more than 400 acres around the site. The project will provide water, power and communications services to the property, turning vacant land in the heart of Florida’s space industry hub into potential sites for new businesses and aerospace facilities.

Space Florida expects the project to be completed in early 2023, Space Florida Vice President of Government and External Relations Dale Ketchum says

This project adds to the Space Coast’s status as a hub of government and private aerospace entities. The region is home to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and it’s home to launch and manufacturing operations of space companies like Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, Chicago-based Boeing Co.

The addition of Terran Orbital is a move to further diversify the Space Coast’s economy away from a historic reliance of government space programs.

Instead, the region is embracing what Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello calls a “commercialization renaissance” of the space industry. In addition to upstart private space firms like SpaceX and Blue Origin, companies like Sierra Nevada Corp. and OneWeb Satellites have been lured to Brevard County.