The New Space Race Lunch: Satellites, Suppliers and the Race to 2035

Bellevue Chamber of Commerce  |  October 15, 2026

More than two-thirds of the active satellites in Earth orbit were built in Washington. Dr. Victoria DePalma shared that preliminary Space Northwest figure with a sold-out room at our October 15 Chamber Lunch, The New Space Race, at the W Bellevue.

DePalma, research director at Greater Seattle Partners (GSP), led GSP’s new report on the region’s space economy and stepped in on short notice for President and CEO Shannon Braddock to present it. She then joined Rep. Suzan DelBene, who represents Washington’s 1st Congressional District, and Amazon Vice President of Public Policy Steve Hartell for a panel moderated by our President and CEO, Joe Fain.

The Puget Sound Space Economy Report

DePalma said one of the region’s biggest differentiators is its aerospace depth coupled with its technology strength, because modern space systems need both reliable hardware at scale and the cloud, AI and software that companies like Amazon and Microsoft bring.

The figures she presented include preliminary Space Northwest estimates of $8.1 billion in direct economic output from Washington’s space industry and 34,200 supported jobs. Space startups founded here since 2016 have recorded $3.31 billion in funding, third among the metros GSP benchmarked.

Using $8.1 billion as a baseline, she said Greater Seattle’s space industry could reach $16 billion to $27 billion by 2035, depending on growth assumptions, as the global space economy climbs from $630 billion in 2023 toward a projected $1.8 trillion.

What Winning Looks Like in 2035

Asked by Fain what keeps Washington building what comes next, Rep. DelBene said a culture of innovation, backed by education from the University of Washington to Tesla STEM High School in Redmond, draws people who want to innovate, and that it has to keep being fed.

Looking to 2035, Hartell said he would like to see affordable, reliable, fast internet reach the places that lack it. Connectivity people take for granted in Bellevue can drop off a short drive away, he said, for a school, a rural health clinic or tribal lands that are not on an interstate corridor with fiber.

DePalma said winning means leading rather than reacting, so that people who want to work in space think of Greater Seattle alongside Orlando.

Amazon Leo, Built in Kirkland

Hartell described Amazon Leo, formerly Project Kuiper, as a low Earth orbit satellite network for high-speed broadband. Prototypes took shape in an empty Redmond warehouse in 2018, full-scale production now runs in Kirkland, and an announcement on turning on initial capability is coming “very soon,” he said.

The Kirkland factory recently turned out its 1,000th satellite, he said, and now has the capacity to build several a day, up from one or two a month. Because a satellite cannot be fixed once it is in space, testing is the other half of the job, Hartell said.

"There is a sense if you walk on the floor of our building that we’re racing into the future. We’re not walking in. We’re racing in." — Steve Hartell, Amazon

Keeping Space Companies in Washington

DePalma said many of the region’s space suppliers are small and medium-sized businesses, and a machine shop that works for Blue Origin may also work for Amazon Leo, Boeing, maritime and clean tech. She cited Space Northwest’s preliminary estimate that each direct space job supports another 1.8 jobs in Washington.

Fain noted that companies at Seattle Space Week said Florida, Texas and other states are recruiting them, and that Governor Ferguson has created a 23-member Governor’s Space Council, which includes Amazon. DePalma said Washington has to court the companies it already has, market the region on purpose and protect its talent pipeline, such as Amazon Leo’s work with Lake Washington Institute of Technology.

Hartell said the report and the council give the region a way to tell that story nationally and abroad, and joked that Seattle could use a team called the SuperSonics the way Houston has the Astros.

Why U.S. Leadership Matters

With China building two satellite megaconstellations, Fain asked what Congress can do to keep the U.S. at the forefront. Rep. DelBene said businesses need certainty and stability, including in federal funding, to plan investments in research and people, and that the U.S. has to lead on international policy.

"In the absence of us being at the table, others will be happy to set the rules of the road." — Rep. Suzan DelBene

On national security, Rep. DelBene said winning federal funding or contracts “is not for the faint-hearted” and can be slow, which she saw firsthand as a startup CEO seeking federal funding. The expertise the region has built in that process helps whoever comes next, she said.

Thank you to our co-presenting sponsors Columbia Bank, Vulcan Real Estate, The Bellevue Collection, Microsoft and Amazon, networking leaders Clark Nuber and Accenture, and media partner Northwest Newsradio and Lotus Seattle, whose Denise Whitaker hosted. The lunch series returns March 18, 2027, when Shannon Braddock joins us for Trade Secrets: What It Takes to Win Global Business.