Shoot for the moon… Even if you miss, you’ll land among the SpaceX satellites. Yesterday Amazon announced the biggest rocket deal in commercial space history. The goal: bring on partners to help launch thousands of satellites that beam WiFi across the globe.
- The mission: Amazon’s Project Kuiper plans to send thousands of internet satellites into orbit in 83 rocket launches over the next five years (and will spend billions to do it).
- The crew: The Zon’s tapped three rocket-makers: United Launch Alliance (run by Boeing and defense giant Lockheed Martin), French biz Arianespace, and of course Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
- The countdown: Amazon got Uncle Sam’s permission in 2020 to launch 3K+ satellites. But there’s a catch: if half of those aren’t live by 2026, it loses its license.
There’s a new space race… and it’s centered on earthly WiFi, not Martian colonies. A third of the world’s population still doesn’t have internet access. One solution: small, low-orbiting satellites that send broadband to remote locations, and do it without the latency issues that satellite internet is known for.
Amazon already had the rocket fuel… Now it’s got the rockets. This won’t be the Zon’s first time blasting off into a new industry: the corporate behemoth has already successfully leveraged its size and scale to enter grocery, cloud computing, streaming, and healthcare. It may not have a head start with satellites, but its cash, customers, and infrastructure give it an edge in any space.