Blue Origin: We want to have a megaconstellation, too

Summary

The announcement came out of the blue, from Blue, on Wednesday. The space company founded by Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin, said it was developing a new megaconstellation named TeraWave to deliver data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth. The constellation will consist of 5,408 optically interconnected satellites, a majority of which will be in low-Earth orbit, with the remainder in medium-Earth orbit. The satellites in low-Earth orbit will provide a capacity of up to 144 Gbps through radio spectrum, whereas the satellites in medium-Earth orbit will provide higher data rates through optical links. “This provides the reliability and resilience needed for real-time operations and massive data movement,” Blue Origin’s chief executive, Dave Limp, said on social media. “It also provides backup connectivity during outages, keeping critical operations running. Plus, the ability to scale on demand and rapidly deploy globally while maintaining performance.” Going for the enterprise market Unlike a number of other megaconstellations, including SpaceX’s Starlink, Blue Origin’s new constellation will not serve consumers or try to provide direct-to-cell communications. Rather, TeraWave will seek to serve “tens of thousands” of enterprise, data center, and government users who require reliable connectivity for critical operations. The announcement was surprising for a number of reasons, but it may also represent a shrewd business decision. It was surprising because Bezos’ other company, Amazon, already has spent more than half a decade developing its own megaconstellation, now known as Amazon Leo, which is presently authorized to deploy 3,236 satellites into low-Earth orbit. This service is intended to compete with Starlink, both through customer terminals as well as providing services such as in-flight Wi-Fi. However, the emergence of increased data needs from AI data centers and other operations must have convinced Bezos that Blue Origin should enter the competition for lucrativ...