Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) has pulled back the curtain on its plans for a major satellite processing facility on Florida's Space Coast.
Amazon will build a more-than-100,000-square-foot satellite processing facility at Kennedy Space Center, Space Florida and Amazon announced on July 21. Amazon will create up to 50 new permanent jobs paying an average annual wage of $80,000 plus benefits, said a news release. Another 300 temporary jobs will be created during the construction phase.
The $120 million investment is part of Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite broadband network designed to increase global high-speed broadband access through a constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit. Kuiper Production Operations is the Amazon division that will oversee the project.
Project Kuiper will establish broadband access for the entire world, Space Florida CEO Frank DiBello said.
Requests for proposals for the construction work likely are ready, DiBello said, but he didn’t know when they will be advertised. Representatives from Amazon were not immediately available to provide details on the RFP.
Amazon’s buildout at Kennedy Space Center's Launch and Landing Facility stems from a previously announced partnership with Space Florida’s Spaceport Improvement Program, a matching investment initiative to boost critical spaceport infrastructure, driving innovation and job growth in Florida, the release said.
DiBello attributed Amazon’s investment in Florida to the state’s intentionally developed infrastructure, “a system that supports the growth of commercial space and further positions Florida as the global leader.”
The Florida Department of Transportation played a key role in that infrastructure development, he said. FDOT built a $58 million utility corridor to make the Launch and Landing Facility — Amazon’s selected site — ready, as Orlando Business Journal previously reported.
The project will bolster the growing space industry in Florida and nationwide, Steve Metayer, vice president of Kuiper Production Operations, said in a prepared statement. “We have an ambitious plan to begin Project Kuiper’s full-scale production launches and early customer pilots next year, and this new facility will play a critical role in helping us deliver on that timeline.”
Metayer also said the employees that will join the company's skilled operations and manufacturing team will play an important part in the company's mission to connect tens of millions of customers worldwide.
Satellite production will begin in Kirkland, Washington, by year's end, the release said. The new Space Coast satellite-processing facility will receive those satellite shipments beginning in 2025, where Florida employees will conduct final preparations ahead of launches, connect satellites to custom dispensers and integrate the loaded dispensers with launch vehicles.
DiBello said he's looking forward to the future. “In my mind, this is the beginning of a long relationship with Amazon because it's going to have multiple versions of that satellite as well as other variants that perform other functions.”
The facility will have a 100-foot-tall, high-bay clean room to accommodate new heavy-lift rockets such as Blue Origin’s New Glenn (nasdaq: BNE) and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur.
ULA had signed a deal to take about 1,710 Project Kuiper satellites to space using its Vulcan Centaur launch vehicles, OBJ sister publication Denver Business Journal reported in April. However, DiBello said a slowdown at ULA may account for the addition of Blue Origin to the roster. Amazon initially had planned to launch the first Kuiper satellites earlier this year, but that didn’t happen, DiBello said.
That said, ULA and the U.S. Space Force on Feb. 1 filed an application with the state of Florida for a permit for “Kuiper SPOC,” improvements to ULA's existing Spaceflight Processing Operations Center as part of its partnership with Project Kuiper.
What is the Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center?
- Formerly a runway primarily used for government operations, redeveloped by Space Florida and partners as a mile-long utility corridor
- Offers ground leasing opportunities for aerospace businesses, taking capital expenses off their books
- Makes aerospace businesses eligible for more efficient and lower cost capital
- Construction of an additional 1.3-mile segment underway with expected completion in 2024
Source: Space Florida
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