Terran Orbital to invest $300 million in Florida’s Space Coast, bring 2,000 news jobs

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday announced that Terran Orbital will invest $300 million in Florida’s Space Coast by bringing its commercial spacecraft and constellation facility -- and 2,000 new jobs -- to Space Florida on Merritt Island.

DeSantis said the company’s move to Florida will create the largest satellite manufacturing facility in the entire world.

The 660,000 square-foot facility will be able to produce more than 1,000 satellites a year and 1 million satellite components, said Terran Orbital CEO Marc Bell.

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One of the satellites it’s developing will use radar to be able to see through clouds and smoke to get a clear image that could help respond to storms and wildfires and can be used by the military, according to a company video Bell showed at the announcement.

“We will build not only vehicles that will go into orbit, that will go to the moon, they will go to Mars, into deep space and the stars beyond,” Bell said.

“In 2020 alone, 1,200 satellites were launched into space, triple the number of satellites launched in 2019,” DeSantis said. “It’s currently estimated that more than 50,000 satellites will be deployed by 2030 and if those estimates hold up, we will end up launching four times a number of satellites in the next decade than in the previous six decades combined.”

DeSantis said the new jobs at the facility, scheduled to be completed in 2025, will have an estimated annual salary of $84,000.

“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.