5 Fast Facts About SpaceX Seattle (And Its Local Office Space)
SpaceX is about to open an office in greater Seattle, eventually employing a welter of engineers. Here are five things to know about the venture in Seattle.
SpaceX is the brainchild of Elon Musk, one of several, and it makes and launches rockets, something only governments used to do. It's the only private company ever to return a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit (Dragon, 2010).
The goal, according to Elon, is for the Seattle office to take the lead in developing the company's next-generation satellites. The plan would involve launching hundreds of small satellites to provide "unfettered" access to the Internet everywhere in the world (probably more sophisticated than Telstar, but basically the same idea).
Elon told a group of enthusiatic supporters recently that the satellite endeavor is “all for the purpose of generating revenue to pay for a city on Mars.” The billionaire and serial entrepreneur is known to have an obsession with visiting the Red Planet.
Back in January, the company said that it was going to move into 30k SF at 18390 NE 68th St in Redmond. The company plans to move in next month; soon it'll be a hive of engineers.
The talent pool. About one-third of SpaceX's local employees will probably come from the local aerospace industry. Other tech giants, such as Microsoft, are also a good source of employees. Take 'em where you find 'em, in other words.
