Tag: Satellites

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Amazon plans 5,105 satellites for mobile connectivity

Campers looking at smartphone with tent and streams of Leo logos in background
An illustration shows campers using a smartphone to connect with a stylized Amazon Leo satellite network. (Amazon Photoillustration)

Amazon Leo has asked the Federal Communications Commission to approve its plan to launch up to 5,105 satellites capable of providing space-based connectivity for mobile devices.

“Our plan is to start deploying in 2028, and we’re excited to work with partners to make it happen,” Chris Weber, vice president of business and product for Amazon Leo, said on X.

The direct-to-device network, Amazon Leo D2D, would complement Amazon’s satellite network for high-speed internet service via fixed antennas. It would also leverage the existing direct-to-device network operated by Globalstar, which is in the midst of a merger with Amazon.

So far, more than 390 Amazon Leo satellites have been launched into low Earth orbit. Amazon says it plans to start rolling out commercial service later this year. The company plans to have 3,232 first-generation satellites in orbit by mid-2029, and the FCC has already given the go-ahead for more than 4,500 second-generation satellites that would give an extra boost to network coverage.

This latest move, which was expected ever since the plans for acquiring Globalstar were announced in April, aims to capitalize on the growing interest in direct-to-device connectivity.

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TerraByte takes its ‘Earth Search Engine’ to the next level

Screenshot of TerraByte News' interactive map, focused on events being tracked in U.S.
An interactive map displays the sites of wildfires, earthquakes and severe weather events, with links to satellite imagery. (Credit: TerraByte)

Two months after emerging from stealth mode, TerraByte AI is using artificial intelligence and a new partnership to upgrade its “Earth Search Engine.”

The startup, which maintains operations in Seattle as well as San Francisco, has just rolled out a TerraByte News service that pinpoints wildfires, earthquakes and severe weather events on an interactive map. Users can follow links to access news reports, social media posts and satellite views related to selected events.

The satellite views include open-source images from NASA’s Earth observation system as well as Europe’s Sentinel satellites. And now the database also features high-resolution pictures provided through a newly announced partnership with Texas-based SkyFi. The partnership gives TerraByte’s users access to SkyFi’s self-service Earth intelligence platform, which offers satellite and aerial imagery from more than 300 sources at prices as low as $15 per image.

“In May, when we came out of stealth, we made the planet searchable,” TerraByte CEO Rishi Madhok told me. “Now, the moment you find something, you can hold the imagery in your hands within a day. The next step is making Earth intelligence as routine as a web search — you ask, you see, and then you act.”

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Amazon Leo hits its mark for satellite internet service

Night launch of Atlas 5 rocket with Amazon Leo satellites
An Atlas 5 rocket lifts off from its Florida launch pad, sending 29 Amazon Leo satellites into orbit. (United Launch Alliance Photo)

Amazon says the overnight launch of 29 satellites should clear the way for its Amazon Leo network to start offering commercial high-speed internet service from space this year, in direct competition with SpaceX’s Starlink network.

United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket sent the satellites into low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 12:30 a.m. ET today (9:30 p.m. PT July 1).

This was the last of eight Atlas 5 launches that Amazon reserved for its satellites. Going forward, ULA will use its next-generation Vulcan rocket to support Amazon Leo’s years-long deployment schedule. Amazon has also made launch reservations with Blue Origin, Arianespace and SpaceX.

The latest liftoff boosts Amazon Leo’s constellation to 396 operational satellites. That will be enough to support continuous connectivity in the initial latitudes targeted for commercial service, according to Chris Weber, vice president of business and product for Amazon Leo.

“Still lots of work ahead — including raising all these new satellites to their assigned altitude — but we’ve completed enough launches for initial service this year, and future missions just add coverage and capacity,” Weber said in a LinkedIn post.

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K2 Space comes to Seattle with big plans for big satellites

Engineers at K2 Space satellite factory
Engineers prepare a high-power satellite for testing at K2 Space’s manufacturing facility in Torrance, Calif. (K2 Space via PRNewswire)

California-based K2 Space has established a satellite engineering hub in the Seattle area, joining a thriving regional ecosystem of satellite ventures.

The Pacific Northwest operation will support the company’s drive to build large, high-power satellites for government and commercial customers. The satellites are manufactured at K2’s factory in Torrance, Calif. The company also maintains a policy and strategy office in Washington, D.C.

Since its founding in 2022, K2 Space has raised more than $500 million in capital and registered more than $1 billion in contracts. While many satellite companies focus on miniaturization, K2 Space is going big on satellite mass and power. K2 had its first “mega-class” satellite, dubbed Gravitas, launched into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in March. The two-ton, 20-kilowatt satellite carried a dozen undisclosed payload modules for multiple customers, including the Department of Defense.

That “go-big” approach is gaining traction: Last month, for example, the U.S. Space Force confirmed that K2 Space would be one of the suppliers for its next-generation military communications network. To serve the anticipated market, K2 Space says it plans to produce hundreds of satellites annually by 2030.

“As we carefully evaluated our expansion plans to align with our next phase of growth, the Seattle area was a natural fit, given its decisive reputation as an aerospace and engineering hub,” K2 Space CEO and co-founder Karan Kunjur said today in a news release. “From flight software and autonomy to the low-level systems that drive our satellites’ most demanding workloads, our Seattle team will contribute to satellites operating at the edge of what’s possible.”

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FCC gives Amazon Leo more leeway on satellite schedule

View of Amazon Leo satellites in their dispenser in orbit
Amazon Leo satellites are folded up in their dispenser, ready for deployment in low Earth orbit. (Amazon Photo)

The Federal Communications Commission has freed Amazon from a requirement to deploy the first 1,616 satellites in its Amazon Leo broadband internet constellation by July 30.

The looming deadline had been a condition of the FCC’s 2020 license for the network, when it was known as Project Kuiper. But in January, Amazon asked for a two-year extension of that deadline, citing the limited availability of commercial launch opportunities.

Instead of pushing back July’s interim deadline, the FCC issued a conditional waiver. Amazon is still required to deploy all 3,232 of its planned Gen 1 satellites by July 30, 2029, as originally mandated. Amazon Leo currently has 331 satellites in orbit, with another 36 due for launch next week.

SpaceX — which operates Starlink, a rival satellite broadband network with more than 10 million subscribers — opposed giving Amazon more time. It argued that the FCC should make Amazon wait for a future processing round. But in an order issued on June 5, the FCC said its remedy was “tailored to ensure that Americans quickly benefit from multiple, facilities-based providers of next-gen satellite services.”

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Blue Origin gets ready to launch Amazon Leo satellites

Two New Glenn rockets being processed at Blue Origin facility
New Glenn rockets are being processed inside Blue Origin’s Florida facility. (Blue Origin Photo)

Five weeks after experiencing its first launch failure, Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin is getting ready to put its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket back in service to launch 48 satellites into low Earth orbit for the growing Amazon Leo constellation.

The mission, designated as NG-4 for the rocket and LN-01 for the payload, will mark the first time Blue Origin’s rockets have launched satellites for Amazon — forging a new connection between the two best-known companies founded by Jeff Bezos. It will also set a new high for the number of Leo broadband satellites launched on a single mission.

“Couldn’t be prouder to support the Leo team on this mission,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a post to X. Before he joined Blue Origin in 2023, Limp was the Amazon executive in charge of the Amazon Leo program (when it was known as Project Kuiper).

This will be the fourth launch of a New Glenn rocket. The first-stage booster for NG-4 is nicknamed “No, It’s Necessary” — a line from the movie “Interstellar” that refers to the need for a bold space maneuver.

New Glenn had been grounded in the wake of last month’s unsuccessful launch of an AST SpaceMobile satellite from Florida. But last week, the Federal Aviation Administration said it accepted the findings of an investigation led by Blue Origin. The investigation said the mishap was caused by a cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line, leading to a thrust anomaly during the second-stage engine burn.

Blue Origin identified nine corrective actions to prevent a recurrence of the mishap, and the FAA authorized the return to flight. An FAA advisory suggested the launch could take place as early as next week.

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Starfish sets sights on new target for satellite docking

Illustration: Otter Pup 2 satellite in orbit
An artist’s conception shows Starfish Space’s Otter Pup 2 satellite in orbit. (Starfish Space Illustration)

Eleven months after launch, Starfish Space’s Otter Pup 2 satellite is finally kicking its test mission into high gear, closing in for a rendezvous with a newly designated target.

If all goes according to plan, Otter Pup 2 will dock with Australia-based Gilmour Space’s ElaraSat satellite sometime in the next few months. ElaraSat became the new target after earlier plans to connect with a D-Orbit ION satellite were scrubbed for undisclosed reasons.

Trevor Bennett, one of the founders of Tukwila, Wash.-based Starfish Space, said ElaraSat was launched on the same SpaceX satellite rideshare mission that sent Otter Pup 2 into orbit last June. Gilmour Space was “more than willing and excited to jump on and do something a little bit ambitious and crazy with us,” he told me.

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TerraByte creates ‘Earth Search Engine’ for satellite data

Screenshot of TerraByte AI's Earth Search Engine
TerraByte’s software platform pinpoints cargo ships, warehouses, solar farms, mining sites and areas of deforestation. (Credit: TerraByte AI)

A stealthy Seattle startup called TerraByte AI is unveiling a software platform that uses artificial intelligence to sift through real-time satellite data for geospatial gems.

TerraByte’s “Earth Search Engine” analyzes streams of satellite imagery, recognizes features of interest and connects the dots through natural-language queries. The platform’s key advantage is that its data set doesn’t have to go through the laborious, expensive process of manual annotation.

“We’re just using self-supervised learning techniques to essentially understand the pixels without having to manually annotate it,” CEO and co-founder Rishi Madhok told me.

“There are many applications that you can do, like identifying power-line segments, finding parking lots near highways without EV charging stalls, watching container ships entering port,” he explained. “If you want to monitor the Strait of Hormuz, you can use our models to do that. Deforestation areas, open-pit mining in Arizona — all of these are very different concepts, but our model is able to understand them because it’s a foundational model.”

TerraByte is laying out its approach this week in Huntsville, Ala., at an ESA-NASA workshop on AI models for Earth observation.

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Amazon Leo revs up work on satellite broadband network

Amazon Leo executive Chris Weber at Mission Operations Center, wearing black-and-krypton T-shirt
Chris Weber, vice president of business and product for Amazon Leo, takes part in coverage of a satellite launch. (Credit: United Launch Alliance)

REDMOND, Wash. — Chris Weber isn’t ready to say yet exactly when Amazon Leo will start letting individual customers sign up for satellite broadband service, but when it happens, he’ll have the right wardrobe for the debut.

During a recent interview at Amazon Leo’s Mission Operations Center in Redmond, Weber sported running shoes in a shade of purple with the Leo brand emblazoned on the back.

“It’s not purple, it’s krypton,” Weber, who came over from GitLab in 2024 to become Amazon Leo’s vice president of business and product, told me. “Krypton is the color when our thrusters fire in space, so we picked that. It was obviously available in the Amazon palette. … There’s a lot of meaning and thought that went into our brands, and we’re quite excited about that.”

It’s been a year since Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, began its multibillion-dollar campaign to send up thousands of satellites to provide broadband internet access across the globe. So far, 304 satellites have been deployed over the course of 11 launches — and Weber said the Amazon Leo team will be running twice as hard in the year ahead.

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Blue Origin aces rocket reuse, but satellite goes awry

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket rises from its Florida pad
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket rises from its Florida pad, sending an AST SpaceMobile satellite into space. (Blue Origin via YouTube)

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture used a previously flown New Glenn rocket booster to send a satellite into space today, marking a first for the company.

It was also New Glenn’s first launch failure.

The first-stage booster — nicknamed “Never Tell Me the Odds” — made its second successful touchdown on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean, drawing cheers from the Blue Origin team. But hours later, AST SpaceMobile said that its BlueBird 7 satellite was not deployed into its intended orbit.

“BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower than planned orbit by the upper stage of the launch vehicle,” the Texas-based company said in a news release. “While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its onboard thruster technology and will [be] deorbited. The cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered under the company’s insurance policy.”

The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:25 a.m. ET (4:25 a.m. PT). The twice-used booster made its first flight last November when it launched NASA’s Escapade probes on a mission to Mars. Blue Origin’s Florida team recovered and refurbished the booster for today’s launch.

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