Musk: SpaceX to Announce Satellite Engineering Center in Seattle

Elon Musk (Credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said his company will announce on Friday the opening of an engineering center to produce satellites.

“We’re creating an engineering center in Seattle,” Musk said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “It’s actually a satellite office creating satellites. We’re going to have the sort of soft opening and a big announcement on Friday.

“We’re going to try to do for satellites what we’ve done for rockets,” he added.

Musk said the office would initially have about 60 employees, and would look to expand to around 1,000 workers within three to four years.

Most communications satellites usually rely on proven technology that is five to 10 years old at the time they are launched, Musk said. With lifespans of up to 15 years, the technology is a quarter century old by the time they are replaced.

Satellite companies also use a “Battlestar Galactica” approach by building massive satellites. If one fails, it’s a very big loss.

SpaceX plans to launch many smaller satellites more frequently, allowing for advanced technologies to be used on them, Musk added. More frequent launches also lessen the impacts of any one satellite failing.

Asked about past satellite constellation projects that lost billions, Musk joked, “I might join them.”

Musk and SpaceX have been linked to WorldVu, a company planning to launch up to 650 small satellites to provide global broadband coverage. It’s not clear whether SpaceX’s satellite venture is connected with that effort.