Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has an estimated net worth of $ 209 billion. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has an estimated net worth of $ 192 billion. (By comparison, even the lower figure was higher than the annual gross domestic product of more than half of the world’s countries by 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund).
At the heart of the round trip is a recent attempt by SpaceX to modify its license for Starlink, a massive constellation of Internet satellites, of which SpaceX has already launched more than 900. SpaceX already has permission from the U.S. federal government to launch thousands of satellites to increase the constellation of Starlink, and in the latest documents submitted to the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX said it wants to locate a few thousand of those satellites. At an altitude lower than previously planned or authorized.
This proposed change could put Starlink satellites in the path of another constellation, called Project Kuiper, which has been proposed by Amazon. The company has not yet launched any satellites, but has obtained an FCC license for the project.
Amazon’s current plans include placing some of its satellites in orbit approximately 590 km (or 366 miles) above the Earth’s surface. Changes to its license advocating SpaceX would allow the company to orbit about 3,000 of its satellites at an altitude of 540 to 570 km (336 to 354 miles), which Amazon considers to be too close to Earth. your comfort. The company argued in its objection that Starlink satellites at this altitude could cause more signal interference with Kuiper Project satellites and other nearby satellite networks.
Musk himself piled up in a tweet on Tuesday, saying that “it doesn’t serve the public to hamper Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that, at most, is several years away from operating.”
Amazon responded in a statement saying, “The facts are simple. We designed the Kuiper system to avoid interference with Starlink and now SpaceX wants to change the design of its system.”
“These changes not only create a more dangerous environment for collisions in space, but also increase radio interference for customers,” the statement says. “Despite what SpaceX posts on Twitter, it is the changes proposed by SpaceX that would make it difficult to compete between satellite systems. It is clearly in SpaceX’s interest to stifle competition in the cradle if they can, but it is certainly not the interest of the public “.
SpaceX has not responded to any requests for comment or answered CNN’s questions in more than eight months.
Putting satellites into lower orbits is generally considered good practice because, if a satellite malfunctioned, Earth’s gravity could drag it out of orbit – and away from other satellites – more quickly. . Satellites that die at higher altitudes can become uncontrolled projectiles that remain in orbit for years or even decades. For example, a missing Russian communications satellite and a satellite belonging to the US-based telecommunications firm iridium collided about 789 km above the Earth in 2009, creating a huge field of debris that is still in orbit and poses a constant risk to nearby satellites.
SpaceX agreed, according to FCC documents, that it would restrict Starlink satellites to “altitudes of 580 km or less.” But basically, this restriction would only start once Amazon started launching its own satellites, and it’s not at all clear if SpaceX would host it before Amazon started building its own constellation. Amazon hasn’t said when the launch will begin, but the company’s FCC license gives it until July 2026 to build at least half of its planned constellation.