Amazon satellite deal takes 'battle of the billionaires' into orbit
Commentators say Bezos and Musk are competing for extraterrestrial dominance.
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
🛰️ Jeff Bezos, through Amazon, paid $11 billion to acquire formerly satellite company Globalstar, ‘presumably in the hope of closing the gap with fellow corporate stargazer Elon Musk’, the FT reports:
‘Globalstar has spent decades trying to create a viable business model. By 2025 it generated just under $300mn in revenue, but still no net profit.
Musk’s SpaceX has changed the game and upped the rivalry, if not the profitability. The rocket company is set to go public this year at a near-$2tn valuation, much of that attributable to Starlink, a satellite-based broadband data service. SpaceX dominates the so-called low Earth orbit satellite (LEO) marketplace with thousands of objects already in flight.
Amazon launched its own initiative, Project Kuiper, in 2019, renaming it Amazon Leo last November. The idea is that by 2028 it will offer a “direct to device” service where data is transmitted without the need for a traditional mobile phone service.
Starlink is galaxies ahead. But Globalstar does give Amazon a cache of valuable spectrum for delivering satellite-based phone and broadband. Moreover, it has an existing partnership with Apple, whereby the iPhone maker’s devices rely on Globalstar to transmit data when ordinary mobile service is not in range. Amazon said on Tuesday that supported Apple products would now connect to Leo satellites instead.’
🚀 Artemis II represents a chance ‘to revolutionise consumer tech in space’, argues James Czerniawski in National Interest:
‘Millions of Americans remain cut off from reliable broadband, including rural families, young workers in smaller towns competing in a remote work economy, and patients seeking telehealth services in areas where a specialist’s office is hours away. Connectivity matters, and Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite services, such as Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, represent the most credible path to closing that gap.
Unlike ground-based cable infrastructure, LEO satellites don’t require laying fiber through thousands of miles of terrain that private companies have never found worth the investment. They just require a government willing to get out of the way.’
☢️ Russia plans to cause a ‘space Pearl Harbor’, a US General warned The Times:
‘General Stephen Whiting, the head of US Space Command, told The Times that America was “very concerned” about the Kremlin’s plan.
It is part of a pattern of increased Russian aggression in space since the start of the Ukraine war, the four-star general also revealed. That has included “sustained satellite communication and GPS jamming” which is so large scale that it is “putting civilian airliners at risk”.
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Alongside his stark warnings, Whiting called on Sir Keir Starmer’s government to significantly increase its very thin space-defence budget to tackle the growing threat from Moscow, as well as China.’
🪖 Former NATO chief Lord Robertson and lead author of the Strategic Defence Review says the UK's security is ‘in peril’ and Sir Keir Starmer's government has shown ‘corrosive complacency’ towards defence, reports the BBC:
‘Lord George Robertson, the ex-Labour defence secretary who wrote the government’s Strategic Defence Review, accused “non-military experts in the Treasury” of “vandalism”, in a speech on Tuesday.
The SDR was delivered in June last year but the 10-year investment plan to fund it has been repeatedly delayed and Lord Robertson earlier told the Financial Times, external the prime minister was “not willing to make the necessary investment”.
Defence minister Luke Pollard denied the claims, saying the government was “working flat out” to publish the plan.
He said “we already have extra money in our budget this year” for defence, and ministers were continuing to announce contracts which give “our fighting forces the kit and equipment they need to deter aggression”.
In a directly political intervention, Lord Robertson - who is now a key government adviser - warned in his speech: “We cannot defend Britain with an ever-expanding welfare budget.”
Speaking in Salisbury, he said: “We are under-prepared. We are under-insured. We are under attack. We are not safe... Britain’s national security and safety is in peril.”’
🇨🇳 China has denied that Iran secretly purchased a Chinese satellite then used it to target U.S. bases during the war, Forbes reports:
‘The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the FT, saying: “Recently, certain forces have been keen to fabricate rumours and maliciously link them to China. China firmly opposes this kind of ill-intentioned conduct.”
On Wednesday, Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo he asked China not to supply Iran with weapons. “I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying that, essentially, he’s not doing that,” Trump said.
In a later post on Truth Social, Trump insisted Xi would give him a “big, fat, hug” at his next meeting with the Chinese leader for his actions to secure the Strait of Hormuz.’
🤝 Contec opened a second satellite optical ground station in South Korea with Cailabs, reports DCD:
‘Space service company Contec has announced the establishment of its second optical ground station for downstreaming satellite data by laser in South Korea.
The new ground station is located at the Asian Space Park in Sangdae-Ri on the island of Jeju, south of the country, and was deployed with the assistance of French group Cailabs, which specializes in laser communications.
“By working with Cailabs, we are strengthening our technological capabilities and positioning ourselves to meet the increasing demand for faster and more reliable satellite communications,” said Dr. Seong-hee Lee, CEO of Contec, in a statement.’
📽️ Finally, take a look at this gorgeous supercut of the Artemis II mission: