The mood was celebratory at the ribbon-cutting for Muon Space’s San Jose, California, manufacturing facility in June. State, local, United States Space Force and Pentagon representatives lauded the startup and, more broadly, commercial innovation before touring the 12,000-square-meter plant where Muon is gearing up to produce as many as 500 satellites annually.
Muon CEO Jonny Dyer called expansion in San Jose “a strategic choice” because it offers “access to world-class aerospace, software, AI and manufacturing talent, along with a dense supplier network and close proximity to many of our customers and partners.” Plus, the San Jose area “has a deep talent pool in high-mix hardware manufacturing, and the Bay Area has a long history of scaled satellite production,” Dyer said by email.
Down the road in Sunnyvale, about 20 miles away, Lockheed Martin has produced satellites, payloads and subsystems for decades. Lockheed’s work in the area dates back to World War II aircraft maintenance at Moffitt Field. Lanteris Space Systems, formerly Maxar, also has a history of assembling, integrating and testing spacecraft nearby.
“This ecosystem allows us to move faster from design to production and continuously iterate as mission requirements evolve,” Dyer said.
