Boca Raton-based Terran Orbital intends to build a 660,000-square-foot satellite manufacturing facility at Kennedy Space Center, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.
With financing run through the state aerospace agency Space Florida, Terran Orbital plans to spend more than $300 million on construction and equipment, with a goal of adding 2,100 jobs by the end of 2025.
The project was negotiated with Space Florida under the code name Project Kraken. In material about Project Kraken for a March 17 Space Florida board meeting, the public-private agency said it would undertake its “best efforts to pursue conduit financing for planned facilities construction and equipment acquisition; lease agreements for the property; and Space Florida’s evaluation of project eligibility for matching funds through the Florida Department of Transportation Spaceport Improvement Program.”
The company, which manufactures and operates satellites for a wide range of commercial and government customers, is expected to build on the former Shuttle Landing Facility, now the Launch and Landing Facility, which is operated by Space Florida.
“To be fair, you probably never heard of us until today. And that's OK” Terran Orbital Chief Executive Officer Marc Bell, a co-founder of the company, said. “We're currently listed on billions of dollars of U.S. government programs and growing at an incredible rate. For us, Space Florida is a perfect place to tell the world who we are and why we're going to continue to dominate the small satellite marketplace. The commercially driven space industry continues to grow at an incredibly rapid rate, which requires us to significantly expand our capabilities.”
Construction is expected to begin by summer 2022.
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