SpaceX Bastrop factory ramps up Starlink production to 70,000 kits per week in just 20 months

SpaceX ran a Starlink promo video between the Starship’s Flight 8 launch attempt on Monday.

Although Starship didn’t fly on this day and it was called a scrub, SpaceX provided an update to its Starlink manufacturing facility in Bastrop, Texas. The construction of this Starlink factory began in 2023.

Starlink production engineers gave an impressive update on how fast the Bastrop, TX factory has been gaining production momentum. The factory’s design in itself is extraordinarily modern. Less than 2 years ago, these were just concept renders on computers.

The Bastrop Starlink factory is currently producing the satellite broadband internet receiver kits (Earth terminals). Around 20 months ago, the factory produced zero kits and now it’s producing 70,000 of these receivers per week, said Alexandra Noe, Senior Director, Starlink Production.

This is an impressive feat achieved by the SpaceX Starlink team. A brand new factory starting from scratch ramps up production of one of the most advanced electronics devices to a significant number.

Since the production has taken off so quickly, the Starlink factory in Bastrop now employs around 1,000 people. A significant contribution to the local economy and producing a highly skilled workforce.

I can’t understate the hard work of all the employees at this factory who’ve made this a reality.

Less than 2 years ago this was an anti-building with no employees and we built a factory from scratch. We’ve gone from producing 0 kits to 70,000 a week and we’ve gone from 0 employees to over a thousand.

Alexandra Noe / Starlink Prodcution Director

Interestingly, the production of Starlink kits starts with raw materials at the Bastrop factory. Starlink Production Engineer John Federspiel said:

The main function of this site is to produce our standard Starlink kits. Right now, we’re producing 15,000 a day straight out of the factory.

Raw plastic palettes come in, raw aluminum comes in and we make those into the Starlink kits and ship them right out to the customer zones.

Out of the total planned 12,000 — SpaceX has deployed around 7,000 Starlink satellites to the low-Earth orbit (LEO) internet broadband constellation.

The constant growth of satellites in the constellation is not without a reason. SpaceX has currently around 5 million broadband customers across the globe. With the exponantial growth of Starlink customer base, SpaceX requires the expansion of its factory in Bastrop, Texas.

SpaceX is constantly working to ramp the Starlink terminal kit production at its factory in Bastrop. To accommodate this growth, SpaceX plans to expand the factory by another 1 million square feet this year. This is going to increase the size of the Bastrop Starlink factory to a total of 1.7 million square feet.

Due to the expansion and growth, SpaceX is always in need for talent at this factory. You can apply for a full-time job or internship by going to spacex.com/careers/ (remember to select Austin, TX as the location when applying to work at the Bastrop Starlink facility).

Stay tuned for future updates on Starship and SpaceX, Follow us on:

Google News | X (Twitter) | Flipboard | WhatsApp Channel | RSS (Feedly).

Related SpaceX News

• 
  Live updates: Starship Flight 8 — watch the live stream recordings (Booster 15 catch, Ship 34 lost)
• 
  SpaceX Bastrop factory ramps up Starlink production to 70,000 kits per week in just 20 months
• 
  SpaceX reschedules Starship Flight 8 to a new launch window
• 
  Elon Musk explains why SpaceX scrubbed Starship Flight 8
• 
  Live updates: Starship Flight 8 — watch the live stream (scrubbed)
• 
  Elon Musk shares rare footage of Starship’s water landing — SpaceX to retry it in Flight 8 on Thursday (6th March)