The content of the Starlink Kit for customers, which includes the satellite dish, a bracket, its power supply and a wi-fi router.
SpaceX
SpaceX plans to build a new plant in Austin, Texas – adding another expansion to the region of one of Elon Musk’s companies after the billionaire founder moved there last year.
The plan for the installation was revealed in a company job posting, which seeks an engineer for its Starlink satellite internet division.
“To keep up with global demand, SpaceX is paving the way for a new, modern manufacturing facility in Austin, TX,” said the company in the post.
SpaceX noted that the factory is designed for “high volume manufacturing”, specifically to make “millions of consumer-oriented devices”. For your satellite internet network, these devices are known as the Starlink Kit and include the antenna (or satellite dish) that connects to satellites, Wi-Fi routers and antenna mounting hardware.
The company’s Starlink unit is currently based in Redmond, Washington – a few miles east of Seattle. The Redmond facility has developed and produced Starlink equipment to date, with the company building more than 120 satellites per month.
The company did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request to comment on its plans for the Austin plant.
SpaceX’s plans for the new plant were first reported by KXAN, an Austin-based affiliate of NBC.
A Starlink user terminal installed on the roof of a building in Canada.
SpaceX
Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to provide high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet.
To date, SpaceX has launched more than 1,000 satellites for Starlink. In October, SpaceX began launching the initial service in a public beta version for customers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, with service priced at $ 99 per month, plus an initial cost of $ 499 for the hardware needed to connect to the network.
The job posting did not provide further details about the Austin plant, such as square meters, when it is expected to become operational, or its intended production goals. The SpaceX post noted that the role will include working remotely in Austin and traveling about a quarter of the time to SpaceX’s headquarters in Los Angeles, “until the Austin facility is fully established.”
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