Amazon Has Acquired Facebook's Satellite Internet Team (engadget.com) 29
The race to develop satellite internet includes some pretty big players like SpaceX, Amazon, Softbank and Facebook. However, Facebook has now essentially thrown in the towel in that business, selling its internet satellite team to Amazon, The Information has reported. From a report: For Amazon, it's a significant step in its effort to develop its Project Kuiper satellite network and catch up with SpaceX's Starlink broadband constellation. Like Starlink, Project Kuiper is designed to provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to users around the world. Amazon aims to have a 3,236-satellite constellation in orbit by 2029, with half of it launched by 2026. It also plans to build 12 ground stations around the world to transmit data to and from the satellites.
I spy with my subscription eye. (Score:2)
Whoo Hoo. Eye in the sky paying for the privilege via prime.
I wonder who can compete with Starlink (Score:4, Informative)
It seems like it would be very difficult to compete with Starlink, since Starlink can launch satellites at launch cost and the satellites need to be replaced every soften...
In fact Starlink can kind of launch satellites even below normal launch costs, since they can send up satellites on experimental launches that would have gone up anyway, empty or not.
Re: I wonder who can compete with Starlink (Score:2)
Re: I wonder who can compete with Starlink (Score:2)
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At some point, Amazon has to make money.
For the board of directors, or the company?
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https://s2.q4cdn.com/299287126... [q4cdn.com]
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Yes, they can, but they lose the opportunity cost of selling the same space to Amazon ... the cost was whatever was the market price of transporting
Theoretically possible opportunity sacrificed ones are not an accounting line item, those aren't an expense item on the books. Businesses cannot and do not choose to avail themselves of 100% of available business opportunities -- they are very often selective. If SpaceX do not sell space on experimental launches today, then it's pointless to theorize about
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Amazon has not contracted any launches with SpaceX at this time. They've contracted ULA for nine launches, and presumably will use sister company Blue Origin once Bezos gets around to orbital launches.
They're certainly not going to be cost-competitive with ULA, though. The Atlas V (which Amazon contracted for) costs 2-3x more than Falcon 9. There's a reason why ULA has zero commercial market share.
They can but will still cost more (Score:2)
What makes you think they can't sell space in experimental launches too?
SpaceX can (and I believe has).
However, that still doesn't help Starlink competitors much because although the cost to others would be lower, the cost to Starlink is still 0.
And there is only so much space on such flight, which Starlink would have priority for 100% of the time...
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Musk is a billionaire with an orbital space program though, and a proven one at that. And while VG has put a few satellites into orbit as well both Branson and Bezos have been outpaced by not just SpaceX but Rocket Lab as well as Firefly and Sierra Nevada in the next couple years.
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Bezos does not currently have his own launch capabilities. After 21 years, Blue Origin still hasn't had an orbital launch. Their first orbital-class rocket has been continually delayed. It was scheduled for 2020, then 2021, then 2022, and will probably see a few more delays on top of that.
By the time Bezos has his first commercial orbital launch, SpaceX may be launching Starlink satellites on Starship.
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Now that he's stepped down as Amazon CEO he'll have more time to spend at Blue Origin. Expect to read about some ass-kickings there soon.
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Bezos has his own launch capabilities.
Lol - to actually put shit in space? no he doesn't. He's got a tiny rocket that goes straight up and down - No orbital activities are possible with it. Maybe that'll change with New Glenn - but that's so far behind schedule its non-factor.
Re:I wonder who can compete with Starlink (Score:4, Informative)
It seems like it would be very difficult to compete with Starlink, since Starlink can launch satellites at launch cost
Not just at cost, but at cost for the the lowest cost per KG/LEO launcher. They've also been able to iterate on their satellites in the same way they have iterated on their engines and rockets. Bezos' biggest problem is that he didn't prioritize New Glenn. If he had a rocket that could compete with Falcon, then his HLS bid would have made more sense, his internet satellites would have cheap and frequent rides to space, and SpaceX might even have had to spend more time and money competing instead of getting all the business and using the spare resources to dominate the next generation. And that's based on F9 prices. If Starship comes achieves half its cost reduction goal... yikes.
With Starship launching satellites could be income (Score:1)
If Starship comes achieves half its cost reduction goal... yikes.
No kidding, and I think we have enough proof at this stage that Starship will work, to think there's very little chance of that not coming to pass!!
I'm thinking of a future where SpaceX actually charges people to go into space on a Starship just to watch Starlink satellite releases... making launching Starlink satellites an actual revenue source instead of a cost!!
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It's better than that, if SpaceX launches a capsule to the ISS or a satellite for Hughs that doesn't max out the booster's payload they can cram a couple dozen Starlink satellites in the unused payload weight for almost nothing, and they've been doing that all along. Pretty much every SpaceX launch carries some Starlink satellites now that production has ramped up.
Competition is good but... (Score:3)
But this is becoming an Ego Competition between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos While Public Opinion tends to Like Musk better, don't let appearances fool you it is just billionaires trying to one up each other. In Which the consumer may win, until Musk or Bezos wins, then we are going to be stuck on a platform that will either be too slow, or too expensive, because one side gave up.
Back in the early 2000's we were seeing Apple Rise from its ashes of near bankruptcy. We cheered as they were making cool new products, like iPods, while the Evil Microsoft suffered failure over failure. The iPods became iPhones, and the common person shifted a lot of their PC Time towards mobile devices. So now Apple isn't going away, and we are stuck on a very restrictive platform (With Google not being that much better)
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But this is becoming an Ego Competition between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos While Public Opinion tends to Like Musk better, don't let appearances fool you it is just billionaires trying to one up each other. In Which the consumer may win, until Musk or Bezos wins, then we are going to be stuck on a platform that will either be too slow, or too expensive, because one side gave up.
Back in the early 2000's we were seeing Apple Rise from its ashes of near bankruptcy. We cheered as they were making cool new products, like iPods, while the Evil Microsoft suffered failure over failure. The iPods became iPhones, and the common person shifted a lot of their PC Time towards mobile devices. So now Apple isn't going away, and we are stuck on a very restrictive platform (With Google not being that much better)
You may be right, but in a world without these billionaires I don't think you'd have a viable option for several decades at best.
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You can have Billion/Trillion Dollar companies without Billion/Trillion dollar Bosses.
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You can have Billion/Trillion Dollar companies without Billion/Trillion dollar Bosses.
You absolutely can. Now, which of those companies has been building and testing a Mars rocket on their own dime?
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In Which the consumer may win, until Musk or Bezos wins, then we are going to be stuck on a platform that will either be too slow, or too expensive, because one side gave up.
I know it's bad form to reply to the same comment level twice, but: I don't see Musk giving up. I think it would be far more likely for him to go after terrestrial broadband in medium density areas than to stop developing Starlink. SpaceX's MO has been to try to expand the launch market by lowering costs and increasing capacity. So far they're the only customer that needs this capacity, but they're not a company to rest on their laurels.
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Sold the Team...? (Score:2)
Still, the wording of the headline and article were that Facebook has "sold the team", as though these people were not employees, but rather property. Let's try to avoid references to chattel, shall w
Good luck with that (Score:3)
"Like Starlink, Project Kuiper is designed to provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to users around the world. Amazon aims to have a 3,236-satellite"
Elon already had 1600 up last week and he sends 5 dozen up every other week, he'll be at 42000 long before this finally put to rest.
people bought and sold like slaves (Score:2, Insightful)
Yep, we've come full circle. Modern slavery is upon us.
It will be ironic (Score:2)