Amazon Plans Thousands of Satellite Launches to Narrow Gap with Elon Musk’s Starlink

Twinkle, twinkle, little … satellite? In news that’s good for internet connectivity and bad for stargazing, Amazon’s filling the sky with more Leo satellites. The FCC last month approved the company’s request to expand its low-orbit constellation to more than 7,700. 

For now, Amazon’s still far away from that goal. Amazon Leo (previously known as Project Kuiper) successfully deployed 32 satellites last month, its largest payload so far. That brought its total number of satellites in the sky to more than 200. 

The space race is on to build the biggest satellite internet network, and Amazon has some catching up to do. 

Clashing Constellations

Amazon’s lagging behind rival Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet service under SpaceX. Starlink is speeding toward having nearly 10,000 active satellites in low orbit, and already has more than 10 million subscribers. Amazon Leo, meanwhile, asked the FCC in January for permission to push back its deadline for delivering 1,600 satellites to orbit from this July to 2028. Amazon plans to start rolling out the Leo service to customers this year, the company said last month. 

The second half of the space biathlon is acquiring major clients:

• Vodafone forged a deal with Amazon Leo last week to serve remote zones of Europe and Africa, adding to previous telecom partnerships with Verizon, Vrio and Australia’s NBN. Amazon Leo, whose latest expansion over the poles could boost airlines’ connectivity, scored a deal with JetBlue last year to connect a quarter of its fleet to its satellites by next year. 
• Starlink, meanwhile, has teamed up with T-Mobile and its biggest stakeholder, Deutsche Telekom. It also has deals with Royal Caribbean on the seas and Hawaiian, United and Southwest in the skies. Not to be counted out, AST SpaceMobile has an overlapping client list, with the likes of Vodafone and Verizon. It’s hard to compare its number of satellites because the company launches larger orbiters that it says will support higher speeds. Last month, AST unfurled a 2,400-square-foot satellite.

Space (Traffic) Jam: There could be a practical limit on how many companies can compete to provide internet service from space. The number of satellites floating in low orbit has surged in recent years to nearly 15,000, most of which are Starlink’s. Researchers are concerned low orbit won’t be able to safely hold an influx of satellites because of collision risks in a growing graveyard of dead satellites and other space junk.