Airbus, which owns 50 percent of OneWeb Satellites, remains firm that the Florida factory is open for business and is preparing to ramp up production of eight satellites a week later this year
Fremont, CA: Airbus and OneWeb joint venture, OneWeb Satellites, inaugurated its USD 85 million factory in Florida in July 2019, with plans to produce hundreds or thousands of low Earth orbit satellites for OneWeb’s broadband mega constellation at the rate of two per day. A year later, OneWeb has filed for bankruptcy protection, and last month sold itself at auction to the U.K. government and India’s largest private telecommunications operator. Airbus, which owns 50 percent of OneWeb Satellites, remains firm that the Florida factory is open for business and is preparing to ramp up production of eight satellites a week later this year.
Airbus U.S. Space Systems head Debra Facktor, who is also a OneWeb Satellites board member, stated that the company is absolutely determined to continue 
manufacturing satellites in Florida. Facktor said that the joint venture would be producing satellites froOneWeb as well as other customers. She sees a growing demand for small, mass-produced spacecraft of the type made at OneWeb Satellites, especially from U.S. government agencies.
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“OneWeb owns the other 50% of OneWeb Satellites and is still a customer of the joint venture. OneWeb has 74 satellites in operation, 34 of which launched on March 21, just days before OneWeb filed for Chapter 11,” said Facktor. “We are working on their next batch of satellites. The OneWeb Satellites factory has continued production throughout OneWeb’s Chapter 11 process and during the pandemic. During that time, we continued producing flight modules and completing final integration for satellites at a rate of about one satellite per week.”
The former Ball Aerospace senior executive joined Airbus in March as the European aerospace giant’s space business was being hit by a one-two punch of OneWeb’s bankruptcy and the broader economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. Airbus recognized its U.S. operations in July, with the formation of Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, a new business unit headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, not far from the Pentagon. Facktor also stated that the long term goal for the joint venture is to have other customers that come from the Airbus side.
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