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SpaceX’s unique Starlink satellite internet constellation, which uses thousands of small satellites placed in low Earth orbit (LEO), also won over rival company founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos, owned by Amazon, is using Starlink for internet connectivity on his yacht and is preparing to launch the Kuiper Internet constellation, according to images shared on social media. In just a few years of general availability, Starlink has become a regular feature on airplanes, ships, and other vehicles due to its ability to ubiquitously transmit the Internet to Earth, regardless of the user’s location. His choice is not surprising. .
While Kuiper waits for satellite launch, Jeff Bezos installs multiple Starlink dishes on yacht
SpaceX’s Starlink was not the first company to develop a low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet constellation, but it was the first to achieve commercial success. Launching a satellite before the Falcon 9 rocket disrupted the industry was an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. Companies wanting to target this market, including those backed by Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates, often had to secure large sums of capital to launch just a few satellites into space.
Meanwhile, SpaceX has successfully lowered the cost and eased the rapid reusability of its Falcon 9 rocket and successfully built a satellite internet constellation of thousands of satellites. Starlink launches filled most of the calendar year’s Falcon 9 launch manifest, leading SpaceX to reuse multiple boosters more than a dozen times to cut costs as much as possible.
At the same time, the Starlink dish, which forms the backbone of the user experience, has also been revised multiple times. These have now arrived on Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ yacht while waiting for his Kuiper satellite internet constellation to come online.
Bezos’ own satellite internet service is being developed by Amazon subsidiary Kuiper and uses an architecture similar to Starlink. Kuiper’s satellite is also located in his LEO, and its users his dish also connects to the satellite to provide connectivity through the connected router. Internet his traffic is routed from satellites through ground stations to servers. One of the advantages Kuiper enjoys over his Starlink is the rockets used to launch the satellites.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is a medium-lift rocket that has seen the number of satellites per launch decline over time as spacecraft get larger to provide features such as direct connections to cells. As for rockets, Kuiper will rely on a hybrid rocket launched by Bezos’ rocket company. His Vulcan Centaur rocket from Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (ULA). Both are larger than the Falcon 9, allowing Kuiper to rapidly expand its Internet constellation.
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s future depends solely on Starship. The multibillion-dollar super heavy-lift rocket that Musk’s company is developing in Texas is the largest of its kind in the world. Starship, which aims to eventually conduct interplanetary missions to Mars, will also allow SpaceX to build a customized second stage to launch Starlink spacecraft. Once Starship is operational, the company aims to launch tens of thousands of his LEO satellites, building an internet constellation that can support internet coverage not only on Earth but also on Mars.
