Blue Origin, the rocket giant started by Jeff Bezos, is taking serious steps to leap into the deep and competitive satellite broadband market. Their latest project, TeraWave, looks set to rattle the industry. Starlink’s goal is to provide international, high-speed broadband internet with its own network of satellites. It further positions it as a direct competitor to Elon Musk’s Starlink, the industry’s current leader.
In the past few months, Blue Origin has accomplished significant operational, logistical and staffing strides. In November, the company celebrated its largest milestone to date—successfully landing a rocket booster on a floating platform in the ocean for the first time. Issuance smartly reached this milestone, significantly broadening its launch capabilities. In April, Blue Origin executed an 11-minute suborbital space flight that included an all-female crew. Among the more famous participants were singer Katy Perry, CBS anchor Gayle King, and Lauren Sánchez—now married to Jeff Bezos.
Now, Blue Origin has 80 test satellites orbiting the Earth. In reality, that’s just a drop in the ocean compared to the company’s ambitious plans to boost this number dramatically. Only last week Blue Origin launched dozens of brand new satellites. The move is a significant step in its ongoing strategy to bolster its influence in the booming satellite internet space. The telecom giant plans to launch more than 3,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit. This next generation plan will significantly improve connectivity throughout the state and provide faster data transfer speeds than services available today.
TeraWave will use the latest space and terrestrial technology to deliver much higher volumes of data at a much faster pace than competitors like Starlink. This capability places Blue Origin squarely in the satellite internet competition unique to launch as a potentially serious player. Blue Origin has not announced when any of its low Earth orbit satellites will be flying. Yet, despite these challenges, the company is taking impressive strides to reach its goal of creating a fully homogenous global internet service.
To be successful they’ll need to overcome the difficulties of entering a market that Starlink has already strongly established itself in. Perhaps the greatest risk lies in the initiative’s overall success on the company’s delivery of speed and reliability — its key promises. Simultaneously, it has to address regulatory and logistical issues associated with the launching and ongoing operation of a large and growing constellation of satellites.