In addition to partnering with SpaceX on its proposed, extremely large orbital data center constellation, Amazon is seeking some regulatory relief of its own. Most pressing is Amazon’s July 30 deadline to deploy half of its Amazon LEO constellation, which is intended to eventually include 3,236 satellites. The company will not meet this deadline, with just over three months left, and Amazon has requested an extension, moving it to July 30, 2028.
carr pulls up
On Wednesday, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr involved himself in the SpaceX-Amazon dispute over MegaConstellation.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that Amazon will fall about 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending its time and resources filing petitions against companies that put thousands of satellites into orbit,” Carr said on Musk-owned social media network X.
There are arguments to be made in favor of both SpaceX and Amazon with respect to their competitive concerns. For example, SpaceX is likely to be able to significantly speed up the rate at which it launches satellites with the upcoming Starship rocket. So to say that it will take centuries to establish its data centers in space is probably not true.
However, it is legitimate to criticize SpaceX’s application for 1 million satellites, which is an extraordinary number of spacecraft that will completely change many things about low-Earth orbit. The SpaceX application did not include key information about size, mass and other details needed to evaluate the constellation for safety and other concerns.
It may not be comfortable for Amazon and Bezos to see Carr publicly and favorably weighing in on Musk’s side. Legally, Carr is allowed to have strong policy views. But they are not expected to single out companies for preferential treatment.
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