OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture of Airbus and OneWeb, inaugurated its $85 million factory in Florida last July with plans to produce hundreds or thousands of low Earth orbit satellites for OneWeb's broadband megaconstellation at the rate of two per day.A year later, OneWeb Satellites' part-owner and main customer has entered 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% of OneWeb Satellites, says the Florida factory remains open for business and is preparing to ramp up production of eight satellites a week later this year.Continuing to manufacture satellites in Florida is "absolutely our intent and our plan," says Airbus U.S. Space Systems head Debra Facktor, who sits on the OneWeb Satellites board of directors.
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