{"id":592755,"date":"2026-08-14T05:56:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/592755\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T05:56:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T05:56:15","slug":"blue-origin-partners-with-rbc-signals-on-ground-station-network-geekwire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/592755\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin partners with RBC Signals on ground station network \u2013 GeekWire"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alan Boyle<\/a> on Aug 13, 2026 at 12:08 pmAugust 13, 2026 at 12:08 pm<\/p>\n

\"Bulb-shapedBlue Origin\u2019s ground station network includes a radio antenna in Bermuda. (Blue Origin Photo)<\/p>\n

Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin<\/a> space venture says it has successfully tested the first three ground stations for a global communications network that will support the company\u2019s missions in Earth orbit and beyond.<\/p>\n

The Quartz network\u2019s first ground stations are in Bermuda, New Zealand and Australia. Blue Origin says the network is due to expand to nine sites by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cGround communications infrastructure has historically been one of the most fragmented and costly elements of space operations, for national security programs, civil and commercial operators alike,\u201d Tory Bruno, president of national security at Blue Origin, said today in a news release<\/a>. \u201cWith Quartz, we\u2019ve built a single, fully integrated network that changes that equation. One interface, one operations team, transparent pricing and a security architecture built to meet the most demanding mission requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first phase of the network buildout features 3.7-meter aperture antennas supporting S-band and X-band frequencies for operations in low Earth orbit. Future installations will feature 9-meter apertures supporting L-, S-, X- and Ka-band frequencies \u2014 which are suitable for operations in geostationary orbit as well as cislunar and deep-space missions.<\/p>\n

To accelerate the buildout, Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin is partnering with Redmond, Wash.-based RBC Signals<\/a>, an 11-year-old company that specializes in providing flexible space communications solutions.<\/p>\n

RBC Signals is supporting site surveys, antenna procurement, deployment and hosting across the Quartz network. Once deployed, the new antennas will be integrated into RBC Signals\u2019 Global Ground Station Network, with unused capacity made available to RBC\u2019s other commercial customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is to provide reliable, flexible and innovative communications solutions for the world\u2019s most ambitious space operators,\u201d RBC Signals CEO Ron Faith said in a news release<\/a>. \u201cBlue Origin\u2019s vision for the future of space exploration aligns perfectly with our capabilities, and we look forward to supporting their missions with a resilient and globally integrated communications network.\u201d<\/p>\n

RBC Signals previously collaborated<\/a> with AWS Ground Station<\/a> on a separate ground station network designed to give satellite operators low-latency access to AWS cloud infrastructure. <\/p>\n

\u201cBlue Origin\u2019s Quartz ground network is independent of the AWS Ground network (just as Blue Origin is independent of AWS),\u201d Faith told GeekWire in an email. \u201cRBC Signals works with multiple ground networks around the world including Blue Origin\u2019s Quartz network as well as the AWS Ground network.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other developments:<\/p>\n

Blue Origin has begun construction of a second launch pad<\/a> at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, complementing a pad that\u2019s being rebuilt after sustaining damage in a rocket explosion in May<\/a>. Launch Complex 36B will be used for the company\u2019s beefed-up New Glenn 9\u00d74 rockets, while New Glenn 7\u00d72 rockets will use Launch Complex 36A. <\/p>\n

The anomaly that caused May\u2019s New Glenn rocket explosion has been traced to the main oxygen valve on one of the booster\u2019s BE-4 engines, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a posting to X<\/a>. New Glenn launches have been suspended while the investigation continues. \u201cHope you get back to flight soon,\u201d SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a reply to Limp\u2019s post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin is looking at sites in Texas and Florida for what\u2019s said to be a $650 million, 1.3-million-square-foot facility that would be used for manufacturing, logistics and research and development, according to the Austin Business Journal<\/a>. City officials in Hutto, an Austin suburb, reportedly approved a set of economic development incentives for the project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Alan Boyle on Aug 13, 2026 at 12:08 pmAugust 13, 2026 at 12:08 pm Blue Origin\u2019s ground…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-592755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}