The competition between SpaceX and Amazon in space has long been at odds. However, recently, Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president (SVP) of equipment and services, revealed in an interview with the “Washington Post”.
According to Dave Limp, Kuiper satellites are under FCC license deadline pressure and will likely have to turn to Amazon’s no 1 rival in space industry SpaceX rockets to help launch them.
Musk and Bezos, the founders of SpaceX and Amazon, are the top two most valuable humans in the world, but they have completely different personalities. He sued NASA for the manned landing system contract he drew, which caused the development of the former to be suspended, and Musk was so angry that he scolded Bezos in the community: “If the complaint could enter space orbit, Bezos would be on Pluto by now. “
Of course, SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper low-orbit satellite network service plans are also incompatible.
The former is already building its own satellite network constellation, using the Falcon 9 rocket to launch more than 3,000 Starlink satellites, and the speed is gradually accelerating.
In contrast, although Amazon has signed more than 10 billion US dollars of launch contracts with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) 3 rocket launch service providers.
A total of 91 rocket launches are expected to deploy 3,276 satellites in the next 10 years.
But the fact is that the company has not yet launched a Kuiper satellite, and the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 prototype satellites are not expected to be launched until the end of this year at the earliest.
However, recently, Dave Limp, Amazon’s vice president of devices and services (senior vice president, SVP), was interviewed by the foreign media “Washington Post” on-site.
Matsuguchi said that Amazon is willing to negotiate with SpaceX to deploy the Kuiper satellites using the Falcon Heavy and upcoming Starship rockets.
Under a 2020 mandate from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Amazon must launch half of the Kuiper satellites by 2026 and the rest by 2029, or the company will lose its license.
However, Bezos and Musk have been arguing for more than 10 years, and this arrangement may be somewhat awkward.
