SpaceX plans to build a particle accelerator facility in Florida. The 230 MeV cyclotron will accelerate protons to near-light speed, which the company says will be used to bring radiation effects testing in-house across all of its vehicles and satellite platforms.

The facility was confirmed by Michael Nicolls, SpaceX’s Vice President of Starlink, who posted on X on February 5 that the company is “hiring elite engineers at our new 230 MeV cyclotron facility in Florida, where we are bringing single-event radiation testing in house to accelerate development across all SpaceX vehicles.”

A job posting from SpaceX on ZipRecruiter is looking for an Electronics Test Engineer, and provides additional details.

“As part of our continuous effort to vertically integrate and scale safe and rapid access to space as well as improve the baseline reliability of our multiple on-orbit mega-constellations, SpaceX has acquired a 230 MeV cyclotron to bring radiation single event effects testing in house,” the posting reads. “This proton particle accelerator will be used to screen and characterize electronics across all of our vehicles and platforms, unlocking unprecedented agility for chip and PCBA level performance characterization that will be critical as we build and scale our AI constellations and deep space exploration vehicles.“

The exact location of the facility within Florida has not been disclosed. The job posting mentions Winter Park, a town in the Orlando metroplex. SpaceX operates extensive facilities across the Space Coast, including launch sites at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 and the forthcoming SLC-37, along with the expanding Roberts Road complex where the company is constructing its Florida Gigabay manufacturing facility and Starfactory 2.0.

Radiation Dangers?

Ionizing radiation (gamma rays, X-Rays, etc.) is produced during cyclotron operation. There’s also the use of high voltages and strong magnetic fields, plus, in some cases, hazardous target gases or liquids. Facilities typically address these with thick concrete or earth shielding, restricted access zones, and rigorous safety protocols.

For the general public outside a properly shielded facility, the risk is essentially negligible. Radiation levels at the facility boundary are required to be well below regulatory limits. The fact is, the average Space Coast resident will receive a far higher annual radiation dose from Earth’s background radiation alone.

Who Regulates A Cyclotron?

If a cyclotron were installed on Florida’s Space Coast, the primary regulatory authority would be the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of Radiation Control. Florida has been an “Agreement State” since 1964, when the Atomic Energy Commission (now the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission) signed a formal agreement transferring authority over radioactive materials licensing and enforcement to the state.

Today the Bureau of Radiation Control licenses more than 1,800 users of radioactive materials across Florida, including hospitals, universities, and research institutions.

A cyclotron operator would need to obtain a specific radioactive materials license from this bureau before possessing or using any of the isotopes a cyclotron produces. The bureau also handles registration of the cyclotron itself as an ionizing radiation machine under Chapter 64E-5 of the Florida Administrative Code.

The NRC retains an oversight role, periodically auditing Florida’s program to ensure it meets federal safety standards, but the state bureau is the agency an operator would deal with directly for licensing, inspections, and enforcement.

Why Build This Now?

Until now, aerospace companies including SpaceX have relied on a small number of external facilities to perform this testing. The Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute’s Radiation Effects Facility and the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have been the primary U.S. facilities, serving clients including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and NASA — all competing for limited beam time.

Texas A&M’s facility tested nearly 100 electronic components for SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule during a three-year period leading up to the historic Demo-2 mission in May 2020, which launched astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station from KSC’s Pad 39A.

By building its own cyclotron, SpaceX eliminates the bottleneck of competing for beam time at shared facilities and gains the ability to test on its own schedule — a significant advantage given the pace at which the company iterates on hardware. SpaceX is currently producing new generations of Starlink satellites at a rapid clip, developing Starshield military variants, building the Starship Human Landing System for NASA’s Artemis program, and continuing to fly Dragon crew and cargo missions.

The natural radiation environment of space necessitates radiation testing for verification and improvements of the company’s product lines and is consistent with SpaceX’s broader strategy of aggressive vertical integration: if you can do it faster and cheaper internally, build it yourself.