SpaceX Orders Solar-Cell Line for Planned Starmind Satellites

The first line

November 11, 2026, 6:35 a.m. Central.

SpaceX has signed a deal for a solar-cell production line that German equipment maker Singulus says is worth more than €60 million, a step toward supplying the company’s planned Starmind satellites.

Singulus said Tuesday it expects to deliver the first line in the first half of 2027. The equipment is designed to make heterojunction solar cells, which convert sunlight into electricity. The company said it plans multiple additional lines, but did not put a total price on those lines or set a delivery schedule for them.

SpaceX plans to use the cells for its Starmind satellites, according to a SpaceX executive quoted in a Singulus release and reported by Interesting Engineering. Those satellites are a plan; the equipment announcement is not evidence that a full network is operating.

What Musk said

On November 10, Musk quoted SpaceX’s announcement and said the company had ordered equipment from Singulus for 100 gigawatts of solar-cell manufacturing capacity a year. He linked that ambition to Starmind and called it a “sentient sun.” Supercharged Daily and Interesting Engineering reproduced the post. X did not allow Newstro to open the original directly during this check.

SpaceX has ordered 100 GW/year of HJT solar manufacturing equipment from Singulus in Germany.
This is for Starmind to create a sentient sun.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 10, 2026

The distinction matters. Singulus described scaling to support more than 100 GW of production equipment, but its contract notice did not attach a yearly rate or a date to that figure. Its announcement disclosed one first line and described further lines as planned. It did not specify that first line’s capacity. Musk’s larger annual figure is his claim; it should not be read as the confirmed output of the €60 million line.

From silicon to satellites

Heterojunction cells combine a crystalline silicon wafer with thin layers of another form of silicon, a design intended to reduce electrical losses. The line is machinery for making cells, not a purchase of 100 GW of operating solar panels or a measure of electricity currently being generated.

Singulus said it will develop both the cells and the production equipment under its partnership with SpaceX. The German manufacturer said SpaceX provided funding in March, when the partnership began, and again in October.

The key unanswered questions include how much the first line will produce, when any additional lines might arrive, and how the broader equipment target translates into actual orders and deployed satellites.

The deal so far

Dates are as reported by Singulus; the company did not give times. March 2026: the companies began their strategic partnership and SpaceX provided funding. October 2026: SpaceX provided additional funding, Singulus said. November 10, 2026: Singulus announced the contract for the first line, and Musk posted his larger capacity claim. First half of 2027: planned delivery of that first line, not a confirmed launch or completion date for the satellite network.

Where the satellites are planned

Singulus said the deal supports SpaceX satellite manufacturing in Bastrop, Texas. The star marks the approximate city area, not a factory entrance or exact facility site.

Sources and visual credits

Singulus contract announcement · Interesting Engineering · Supercharged Daily · Elon Musk on X.

Hero and thumbnail: conceptual editorial illustration, not a photograph of SpaceX hardware. Map data: OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.