SpaceX started to accept Starlink broadband service pre-orders on a ‘first-come, first-serve’ basis on its Starlink.com website. They expect to achieve near global internet coverage before this year ends. The company is primarily focused in connecting rural and remote communities where traditional internet infrastructure is not reliable or unavailable. The latest rocket launch on Thursday increased the satellite constellation size to1,205 internet-beaming Starlink satellites in orbit. Customers receive internet from the satellites via a phased array dish antenna that is easy to install. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted SpaceX operation of 1 million Starlink dish terminals in the United States. In July last year, SpaceX submitted a filing with the FCC requesting to operate 5 million Starlink dish antennas due to ‘extraordinary demand’.
“To keep up with global demand, SpaceX is breaking ground on a new, state of the art manufacturing facility in Austin, TX,” the company said in new job listings posted on its website earlier this week. The job listing was first-found by KXAN, a local news station in Texas. Currently the dish antennas are manufactured at a SpaceX facility located in Redmond, Washington, where company officials shared they produce 120 Starlink satellites per month. The job applications state the Austin Starlink factory will be for “high volume manufacturing,” to make “millions of consumer facing devices.” Likely where the Starlink Kit could be produced. The kit features a phased array dish antenna, Wi-Fi router device, alongside with mounting and power equipment to connect to the satellite network. SpaceX says the phased-array dish features technology ‘more advanced than what's in fighter jets.’ The dish also features small motors to orient itself in search for an optimal view of the satellites in orbit.
The company is seeking to hire an Automation and Controls Engineer, Assembly and Packaging Equipment Engineer, Operations Engineer, as well as a Business Analyst for its Texas Starlink manufacturing facility. The application also states that the job requires “up to 25% travel to SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles, until Austin facility is fully established.” SpaceX has several facilities in Texas, a Starship development and launch site at Boca Chica Beach near the city of Brownsville, as well as a rocket testing facility in McGregor, TX.
Featured Image Source: SpaceX
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About the Author
Evelyn Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
