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The giant deal that Bezos wants to overtake Musk in space

The race between the two richest men on the planet – Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos has long gone beyond its territory and moved into space.

As for the high-speed Internet provided by satellites in orbit, Musk is leading so far, but the founder of Amazon is not giving up. SpaceX’s Starlink system has long sent satellites, but Bezos and Amazon are also working hard in this direction.

Amazon announced on Tuesday the largest rocket launch deal in the history of the commercial space industry. The technology giant has signed contracts with three companies for 83 satellite rocket launches as part of the Kuiper project to provide satellite internet.

In one launch, the rockets can carry several dozen satellites, and Amazon’s project has a license for a network of 3,236 satellites.

The rocket contracts are with Blue Origin, the space company founded by former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. It will launch 12 rockets with satellites, with an option for another 15.

The company Boeing and Lockheed Martin United Launch Alliance (ULA) is tasked with launching 38 missiles, and the French Arianespace – 18.

The Kuiper project is Amazon’s plan to create a network of 3,236 satellites in Earth orbit to provide high-speed Internet to anywhere in the world. When the system was approved by the US Federal Communications Commission in 2020, Amazon announced that it would invest more than $ 10 billion.

Amazon is about to start testing two prototype satellites, which are scheduled to be launched into orbit this year.

However, it is not clear when the launch of Kuiper’s real satellites will begin, but the requirement under the federal permit is for at least 1,600 satellites to be launched by mid-2026. Otherwise, the system’s plug-in could be revoked.

“We still have a lot of work to do, but the team is achieving goal after goal in every aspect of building the satellite system. The new rocket agreements reflect our commitment and faith in the project,” said Dave Limp, Amazon’s vice president.

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Photo: Getty Images

Blue Origin’s New Shepard is already sending tourists into space, the first of whom was Jeff Bezos himself.

However, the terms of the contracts are not announced.

For the launch, the ULA will use its Vulcan rockets, which will be ready this year, as well as the Atlas V. It is not clear how much it will cost to launch a rocket, but the US government will cost about 112 million.

Arianespace will provide 18 missions to Kuiper with its Ariane 6 missiles, which are also due to debut this year. A release reportedly should cost at least $ 77 million.

Blue Origin will use New Glenn missiles, although they are not expected to be ready for launch until 2024.

The Kuiper and SpaceX projects are among the first in the competition to send broadband satellites into orbit that can compete with conventional ISPs.

Elon Musk’s program is one step ahead and has taken the lead with a series of satellites already in orbit. Starlink, Musk’s Internet service, already has 250,000 subscribers, the project said recently.

More than 1,900 satellites of the so-called a first-generation satellite system, according to data from SpaceX.

For its satellites, however, Amazon will rely on larger launch rockets, ie. to catch up with more satellites in one launch.

Bezos’ internet project is also working on a line for deals for the planned internet deliveries. Last year, an agreement was reached between Kuiper and Verizon Communications, which provides for Internet delivery to expand Verizon’s network to remote rural areas in the United States. SpaceX signed a similar deal with Japanese telecom.

The company called the deal



And while Starlink was the first to tell the Wall Street Journal, Chris Kilty, an expert in satellite industry analysis, said Amazon’s advantage was that they saw the challenges and could more easily avoid potential problems.

In addition, Amazon believes that there is room for more than one satellite broadband provider, as there are enough places and people left around the world without access to the network.

However, the question remains whether there is enough space on Earth and in orbit for the rivalry of Musk and Bezos.

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