European small satellite maker Aerospacelab has opened its first manufacturing facility in the United States, aiming to tap into the lucrative US government and commercial markets. The facility, located in Torrance, California, is expected to reach a capacity of producing two satellites a week in a single shift.

“With Space Force recently announcing its plans for not only a commercialization strategy, but [also the Space Development Agency] signaling their desire to diversify their supply base, we see potential not only for U.S. commercial customers,” said Tina Ghataore, group chief strategy and revenue officer at Aerospacelab and its CEO for North America.

Aerospacelab has secured contracts with two US-based clients: Xona Space Systems, a positioning, navigation and timing venture, and Albedo, a remote-sensing startup. They are also supplying subsystems to MDA for Telesat’s proposed Lightspeed broadband constellation.

“Our customer contract values cannot be disclosed but we are happy the commercial value allows us to justify our investments here,” said Ghataore. Aerospacelab is also planning to manufacture satellite subsystems from the facility as part of its vertical integration strategy.

“We still strongly believe that vertical integration is the best way to get these satellite platforms to customers with speed and affordability,” Ghataore said, “and aim to simplify design to manufacture. We are currently 90% vertically integrated and expect this number to reach 99% by 2026.”

Aerospacelab chose Torrance as its US location due to its proximity to US Space Force Bases, Space Force Space Systems Command offices and other prime contractors based in Los Angeles. The company will begin assembly, integration, and testing work for Xona this fall.

Ghataore believes that the US government market, particularly with the Space Development Agency, has opened up the space market for new entrants.

“The U.S. market is open for new players to enter into the North American space to deliver product at an efficiency and at a price point that will challenge certain incumbents in-country,” she said.