Elveo Mobile Partners with Apex Space to Produce D2D Constellation

Elveo Mobile has partnered with spacecraft manufacturer Apex to establish a dedicated production facility for its planned global direct-to-device satellite constellation, as the company moves to scale beyond technology development into fleet manufacturing.

The partnership will use Apex's Factory X model to set up Elveo's first U.S. satellite production site. Apex will provide spacecraft platforms, manufacturing expertise and high-rate production processes, while Elveo plans to use the resulting manufacturing blueprint to establish additional facilities in Europe and Asia with regional partners.

The strategy gives Elveo greater control over spacecraft supply, production costs and deployment schedules than relying entirely on conventional external bus suppliers. It also reflects the scale required for proliferated LEO D2D networks, where manufacturing capacity can become as important as spectrum access and network technology.

Elveo's satellites are being designed around 3GPP NTN standards and will incorporate advanced onboard processing and networking. The company says this will allow the constellation to adapt services and network behaviour as mobile operator requirements evolve.