SpaceX, Amazon spat the world’s richest men to each other about space real estate

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has an estimated net worth of $ 209 billion. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s CEO, has an estimated net worth of $ 192 billion. (In comparison, according to the International Monetary Fund, even the lower figure was higher than the annual gross domestic product of more than half of the world’s countries in 2020.)

Central to the back-and-forth is a recent attempt by SpaceX to change its license for Starlink, a massive constellation of Internet satellites, of which SpaceX has already launched more than 900. SpaceX already has permission from the U.S. federal government to launch thousands of satellites to magnify the Starlink constellation, and in recent filings with the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX said it wants to place a few thousand of those satellites at a lower altitude than previously planned or authorized.

That proposed change could get in the way of Starlink satellites from another constellation called Project Kuiper, suggested by Amazon. The company has not yet launched any satellites, but has obtained an FCC license for the project.

Amazon’s current plans include placing some of its satellites in orbit about 590 km (or about 366 miles) above Earth’s surface. The changes to its license that SpaceX advocates would allow the company to orbit nearly 3,000 of its satellites at altitudes between 540 and 570 km (336 to 354 miles), which is too close, according to Amazon. is for comfort. The company argued in its objection that Starlink satellites at that altitude could cause more signal interference with Project Kuiper satellites and other nearby satellite networks.

But SpaceX has allayed those concerns. SpaceX’s director of satellite policy, David Goldman, said in a Jan. 22 letter to the FCC that his competitor reached those conclusions only by “cherry picking data” and “ignoring the majority of the change” proposed by SpaceX.

Musk himself stepped up in a tweet on Tuesday, saying, “It’s not good for the public to hoard Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at best several years away from operation.”

Amazon fired back in a statement, saying, “The facts are simple. We designed the Kuiper system to avoid interference with Starlink, and now SpaceX wants to change the design of its system.”

“Those changes not only create a more dangerous environment for space collisions, but they also increase radio interference for customers,” the statement read. Despite what SpaceX posts on Twitter, it is the changes SpaceX proposed that would disrupt competition between satellite systems. Obviously, it is in SpaceX’s interest to stifle competition if they can, but it is certainly not in it. interest of the public. “

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment for more than eight months or to inquiries from CNN.

For its part, SpaceX has positioned the proposed modification to the Starlink system as a system better at managing traffic and potential collisions in space, which is widely recognized by the industry as a growing threat. Cheaper satellites and rockets have caused an unprecedented spike in the number of objects deployed in space. Much of that increase and expected increase is due to companies such as Amazon and SpaceX who want to deploy thousands of satellites in orbits below 2,000 km, which is already the most congested area in space.
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Placing satellites in lower orbits is generally considered best practice because, if a satellite were to fail, Earth’s gravity could more quickly drag it out of orbit – and away from other satellites. Satellites that die at higher altitudes can become uncontrolled projectiles that remain in orbit for years or even decades. For example, a defunct Russian communications satellite and a satellite from US-based telecom company Iridium collided about 789 km above Earth in 2009, creating a huge debris field that is still in orbit and poses a constant risk to nearby satellites.

However, Amazon argued in documents filed with the FCC that the proposed changes to SpaceX Starlink satellites could in fact collide with Kuiper satellites. SpaceX told the FCC that Starlink satellites can end up in orbits up to 30 km above or below the orbit for which they are licensed, and that means that SpaceX satellites stationed at 560 or 570 km are in the orbit of Project Kuiper satellites with a permit could end. at nearby heights, Amazon spokesman James Watkins told CNN.

SpaceX agreed, according to FCC documents, that it would limit Starlink satellites to “altitudes of 580 km or below.” Crucially, though, that restriction wouldn’t begin until Amazon started launching its own satellites, and it’s not at all clear if SpaceX would stick to it before Amazon starts building its own constellation. Amazon hasn’t said when it will begin launch, but the company’s FCC license gives it until July 2026 to build at least half of its planned constellation.

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