Latest news with #AmazonKuiper
Russia Today
22-07-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
Trump seeking alternative to Musk's SpaceX
The White House has expanded its search for contractors to build the Golden Dome missile defense system, seeking to replace Elon Musk's SpaceX, Reuters claimed on Tuesday, citing three anonymous sources. Once close allies during the 2024 election campaign, Trump and Musk have had a dramatic falling out in recent months. The rift began over Trump's $5 trillion 'big, beautiful' budget bill, which Musk publicly opposed. In response, Trump accused Musk of benefiting excessively from federal subsidies and threatened to strip SpaceX of its government contracts. SpaceX has played a central role in US defense communications through its Starlink and Starshield satellite systems, and was expected to build key components of the Golden Dome. Reuters reported in April that the company was a frontrunner for the project, alongside Palantir and Anduril. However, Trump is apparently following through on his threat to take away Musk's contracts, according to the latest Reuters report. Officials at the Pentagon and White House are now allegedly courting other companies to reduce reliance on Musk's firm. Amazon's Project Kuiper has reportedly been approached by the administration, despite having launched only a fraction of its planned satellite constellation. Other firms under consideration include Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, L3Harris, and smaller rocket startups such as Rocket Lab and Stoke Space. Despite the shift, Reuters notes that SpaceX may still handle certain parts of the $175 billion program, especially satellite launches, given its record of more than 9,000 Starlink deployments and vast procurement experience. The breakdown in relations between the two men continued last month when Trump proposed that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Musk formerly led, should investigate his government subsidies. 'Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,' Trump wrote on Truth Social, claiming the US could 'save a fortune' by cutting ties with his companies. Musk responded by warning that the president's spending plan would 'bankrupt the country' and pledged to launch a new political movement, the America Party, to disrupt the Democrat-Republican 'uniparty' in Congress.
Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
In rare team-up, Elon Musk's SpaceX launches batch of 24 Amazon's Kuiper satellites
Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has aided rival Amazon in the fierce satcom race by successfully launching the next batch of Kuiper internet satellites into orbit on Wednesday, July 16. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, US, at approximately 2:18 am ET (11:48 am India time) with 24 of Amazon's Kuiper satellites on-board the SpaceX rocket. The launch was part of the mission dubbed KF-01. 'Successful deployment of all KF-01 satellites confirmed,' wrote SpaceX in a post on X. With the recent launch, Amazon Kuiper now has a total of 78 low Earth constellation (LEO) satellites in-orbit. Its plans involve placing more than 3,200 internet satellites in low Earth orbit to form a first-generation constellation network and provide satellite-based internet. Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, has a network comprising around 8,000 satellites. Though the two firms are primary competitors in the satellite internet market, the rare collaboration with SpaceX signals Kuiper's rush to deploy half of its initial constellation because the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has required the company to have at least 1,600 satellites in orbit by the end of July 2026. Liftoff! — SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 16, 2025 In 2023, Amazon faced a lawsuit from shareholders for not considering SpaceX as a potential contractor to help dole out its first batch of internet satellites using Falcon 9, which is said to be its most reliable rocket. Two months later, the Jeff Bezos-founded company inked a three-year deal with SpaceX for satellite launches. Kuiper also has similar arrangements with other launch providers such as United Launch Alliance (ULA), Arianespace, and Blue Origin (Bezos' other company). While Blue Origin has built a booster rocket called Glenn, it has only flown once so far and the company reportedly failed to recover the booster. The second launch of Blue Origin's rocket is scheduled to take place on August 15. Deployment of 26 @Starlink satellites confirmed — SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 16, 2025 Meanwhile, Space on Tuesday, July 14, launched 26 of its own Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. The lift off was at its base in southern California, US. With around 8,000 active Starlink satellites in orbit already, SpaceX has a megaconstellation for offering satellite-based internet. The company plans to deploy an additional 30,000 spacecraft, but it has received regulatory approval to launch only 12,000 units at present.
Bloomberg
02-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Amazon Hiring Executives for Asia Satellite Internet Push
Save Inc. is looking to hire government sales leads in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, laying the groundwork for its satellite internet business in East Asia. Amazon Kuiper, the Seattle-based company's satellite unit, is advertising roles for government solutions managers to cover the three major economies. The winning candidates will be expected to build high-performing teams, according to the job postings. Taiwanese officials had said in December that they are in talks with Project Kuiper for collaboration.
CNET
23-06-2025
- Business
- CNET
Amazon Doubles Project Kuiper Satellite Fleet in Race to Catch Up to SpaceX's Starlink
An Atlas V rocket roared off Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:54 a.m. ET Monday, carrying 27 Amazon Kuiper satellites to low-Earth orbit. The flight, dubbed Kuiper 2, doubles Amazon's constellation to 54 operational broadband satellites. Project Kuiper is Amazon's $10-billion-plus answer to Elon Musk's Starlink. The commerce giant is planning a network of 3,236 satellites to deliver high-speed, dependable internet to people everywhere, especially in communities traditional providers have left unconnected or under-served. Amazon's June 23 liftoff unfolded without any issues, a week after engineers scrubbed the first attempt because of a rocket booster issue. The United Launch Alliance' Atlas V, on one of its last commercial flights, released the satellite batch about three hours after liftoff, handing control to Amazon's Kuiper mission center in Redmond, Washington. To complete its 3,236-satellite network, Amazon has lined up roughly 80 launches in the coming years: eight more Atlas Vs, 38 on its Vulcan Centaur replacement, plus rides on Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rockets and even Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. With a Kirkland factory in Washington cranking out five satellites a day, Amazon says it could power on its first customer terminals later this year. Amazon has until mid-2026 to launch half its fleet under FCC rules, making every launch crucial to meet this goal. Catching SpaceX won't be easy, though. Starlink averages more than one launch a week and obviously has a major head start in hardware, ground stations and market share. Still, Amazon's retail footprint and deep pockets give Project Kuiper a leg up, especially in markets where Starlink terminals remain expensive or back-ordered.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Govt, Trai dismiss telecom companies revenue fears on satcom
New Delhi: The government and the telecom regulator have brushed aside fears of telecom operators that satellite communication players such as Starlink and Amazon Kuiper can eat into their revenue, saying the two services are different and satellite services will be offered at a much smaller scale. As per an analysis, Starlink can have a million customers by 2028-29, as against 75 million wireline broadband users and 1.2 billion 4G and 5G users, said officials. Satcom tariffs are set to be around eight times higher than those for terrestrial telecom services while the one-time hardware cost will be 13 times higher. While Starlink is yet to announce tariffs and hardware costs for the Indian market, based on an analysis of tariffs in other countries, officials estimate that the one-time cost of hardware could be ₹20,500-21,000 and the monthly plan could be priced at ₹2,720-2,800. In comparison, telcos offer fixed wired broadband plans in the range of ₹500-1,000, with state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam offering a plan for as low as ₹329 with 1,000 GB of data. Telecom operators, in a recent joint letter through the Cellular Operators Association of India to various government authorities, had slammed the recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on satcom spectrum pricing , calling them unjustifiably low. Telcos had cautioned the government that if Trai's recommendations were implemented in their current form, they would create a non-level playing field and impact the sustainability of terrestrial telecom services. But the government and the regulator rejected the contention. "Starlink may have around 1035 PB of data capacity over India in a year, which is nothing when compared to capacities of terrestrial operators," said an official, who did not wish to be identified. Live Events The capacity generation potential of Starlink has been derived from what the Elon Musk-owned company has told the Indian authorities. Starlink has applied to IN-SPACe for authorisation of 600 Gbps over India. Taking 75% for downlink purposes, 450 Gbps has been considered for the calculation of download capacity. The numbers arrived at in the comparative analysis are only generic and not made part of any official document by the government and the regulator, according to officials. "The exercise was undertaken to get an idea around satcom and its potential," said a second official. Trai, too, has not taken into account the demand by telcos of a level playing field with satcom players, as the regulator felt that the two services are different. It has presented a comparative analysis of the two services, as per which satcom is nowhere close to the capacities of telcos, said officials. Based on its analysis, Trai said that as per conservative estimates, the network capacity of the typical terrestrial wireless access service operator for providing broadband access to households and enterprises through fixed wireless access technology would be of the order of 168 terabits per second (Tbps) in the near- to-medium-term. On the other hand, the network capacities of major non-geostationary orbit (NGSO)-based fixed satellite service (FSS) providers (such as Starlink and OneWeb) for providing satellite broadband in India would range between 0.6 Tbps and 3 Tbps in the near-to-medium term.
