Blue Origin, the space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, says it will launch more than 5,400 satellites to build a global communications network called TeraWave, marking its biggest move yet into satellite connectivity.
The company said TeraWave is designed to deliver continuous global coverage and handle very large volumes of data at much higher speeds than existing commercial satellite systems. At peak performance, the network could support upload and download speeds of up to 6 terabits per second, according to Blue Origin.
Even at that scale, the project would still trail Elon Musk’s Starlink, which dominates the satellite internet market with thousands of satellites already in orbit and services aimed largely at consumers. By contrast, Blue Origin says TeraWave will focus on data centres, enterprises and governments, rather than individual households.
Blue Origin plans to begin launching TeraWave satellites by the end of 2027.
The announcement places Blue Origin in an increasingly crowded field. SpaceX’s Starlink offers both internet and mobile services to consumers worldwide. Amazon, the company Bezos still chairs as executive chairman, is also building its own satellite network under Project Kuiper, sometimes referred to as Leo. Amazon currently has around 180 satellites in orbit and plans to deploy more than 3,000, with a consumer-focused strategy similar to Starlink.
Blue Origin has recently stepped up its technical ambitions. In November, it successfully landed a rocket booster on a floating platform for the first time, a milestone previously achieved only by SpaceX. In April, the company also carried out an 11-minute suborbital flight with an all-female crew that included Lauren Sánchez, singer Katy Perry and broadcaster Gayle King, though the mission drew criticism from some observers who described it as out of touch amid broader economic pressures.
With TeraWave, Blue Origin is signaling that it intends to compete not just in launch services, but in the fast-growing market for high-capacity space-based communications.
Featured image credits: Flickr
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