Inside SpaceX’s Starlink Factory: 70 Satellites Built Every Week
SpaceX has unveiled a behind-the-scenes look at its Starlink manufacturing hub in Redmond, Washington, where the company is currently producing up to 70 satellites per week.
The rare glimpse came via a video released Tuesday, just ahead of the company’s rescheduled tenth Starship test flight. In the clip, Akash Badshah, SpaceX’s Senior Director of Satellite Engineering, emphasizes the facility’s importance: “All of those Starlink satellites came from here, right in Redmond.”
High-Speed Production at Scale
The footage highlights different stages of satellite production — from component fabrication to assembly and packaging. According to Cornelia Rosu, SpaceX’s Senior Director for Starlink Production, the company has refined its process to achieve the impressive weekly output:
“At SpaceX, we iterate very quickly, and we’ve learned how to sustain a 70-satellite-per-week production rate.”
That pace works out to 3,640 satellites annually, a massive leap compared to 2020, when the company reported a capacity of only 120 satellites per month.
Meeting Demand for a Mega-Constellation
This manufacturing efficiency is key to SpaceX’s ambitious plan to deploy nearly 30,000 Starlink satellites (pending FCC approval). Currently, the company is authorized to operate around 12,000 satellites, but the expanded constellation would allow greater coverage, higher capacity, and gigabit-level speeds for Starlink customers worldwide.
Mini Lasers for Next-Gen Connectivity
The video also shed light on advancements in laser communication systems. These laser links allow satellites to exchange data directly in orbit, supporting transfer speeds of up to 200 Gbps.
SpaceX has now developed a compact “mini laser” module, designed not only for its satellites but also for third-party spacecraft and orbital stations. With mass production in full swing and new laser-based networking technology, SpaceX is laying the groundwork for a next-generation satellite internet system that connects not just Earth, but potentially other spacecraft in orbit as well.
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