--- description: Find out why Terran Orbital was selected for the list title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2023: Terran Orbital image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2daf616d58fd1e1a/698a3dcf0116821c47983223/time100-companies-Terran-Orbital-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jun 21, 2023 # Terran Orbital Satellite advances by [Jeffrey Kluger](/author/jeffrey-kluger/) ## Jeffrey Kluger Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Editor at Large  A rendering of Terran Orbital's Capstone satellite by the moon. A rendering of Terran Orbital's Capstone satellite by the moon.Courtesy of Terran Orbital Not a lot of people paid attention on Nov. 13, 2022, when the microwave-oven-size Capstone spacecraft began orbiting the moon. But they should have: astronauts will follow Capstone’s lead. Built by Terran Orbital, Capstone in May completed one of its primary missions: operating for six months in a novel, highly elliptical orbit that [NASA’s](https://time.com/6268105/nasa-artemis-ii-lunar-astronauts-names/ "undefined") Gateway lunar space station will fly when it is launched at the end of 2024\. A pioneer in the field of small satellites, Terran has established a robotic assembly facility that dramatically slashes production timelines. “By the end of next year,” says Marc Bell, co-founder and CEO, “you can order a satellite on the first of the month and we can deliver it to you on the 30th.” And the company hopes to prevent orbital litter: its earth-­orbiting satellites are designed to re-enter the atmosphere and vaporize at the end of their useful lives. _A weekly newsletter featuring conversations with the world’s top CEOs, managers, and founders._ [_Join the Leadership Brief_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=leadership&source=100companies "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2023/6285167/terran-orbital/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2023/6285167/terran-orbital/"},"headline":"Terran Orbital","datePublished":"2023-06-21T10:55:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:15:47.110Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2023/6285167/terran-orbital/","keywords":["TIME100 Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2daf616d58fd1e1a/698a3dcf0116821c47983223/time100-companies-Terran-Orbital-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"creator":"Jeffrey Kluger","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2daf616d58fd1e1a/698a3dcf0116821c47983223/time100-companies-Terran-Orbital-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2023/6285167/terran-orbital/","name":"Terran Orbital"}}]}] ```