Amazon wants US regulators to reject a SpaceX application for permission to launch a fleet of orbital datacenter satellites, criticizing it as incomplete, speculative, and unrealistic.
Elon Musk’s rocket business recently proposed building an orbiting constellation of satellites serving as spaceborne datacenters, for which it needs the approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC put out a public notice for comments on the application last month, as reported by The Register.
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Amazon, which operates a rival satellite telecoms operation to SpaceX’s Starlink, has not wasted time in making its objections known.
In a filing dated March 6, Amazon Leo claims the application provides only the barest outline of how SpaceX will deliver on its “grand claims.” SpaceX is seeking authority to operate a constellation of up to a million satellites in low Earth orbit, a remarkable number given that around 15,000 satellites in total are currently circling the planet.
Those grand claims include the assertion that this would be the first step towards becoming a Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale – defined as one capable of using the entire energy output from its home star.
Amazon Leo argues the SpaceX application lacks basic details including satellite design, the radio frequency characteristics of the units, and “any plan for managing conjunctions or interference at million-satellite scale.”
In short, it says, the application seems to describe a lofty ambition rather than a real plan, and derides it as a “speculative placeholder rather than a complete application under the Commission’s rules.”
We asked SpaceX for comment.
Amazon Leo also raises concerns about satellite interference with astronomy and environmental objections to pollution from rocket launches and satellites burning up as their orbits decay. These criticisms could also be leveled at Amazon itself.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted at an event last year that gigawatt-scale datacenters powered by solar energy “will fill Earth’s orbit within two decades,” so this petition is plainly not motivated by environmental concern.
The company asks the FCC to deny the application as “facially incomplete” – an odd turn of phrase. Should the Commission choose to treat it as a serious proposal, however, Amazon begs regulators to “fully grapple” with the issues a deployment of this magnitude would raise, and to demand concrete technical details from SpaceX.
Amazon also warns that Musk’s firm is seeking authorization for “an orbital monopoly that will make it the gatekeeper to space,” which perhaps gives away the real concern here.
Analyst firm Gartner recently poured cold water on the idea of putting datacenters in space, describing it as “peak insanity” because running spaceborne facilities would be uneconomical and could never satisfy terrestrial demand for compute power.
Amazon Leo, formerly known under the codename Project Kuiper, is understood to have more than 200 satellites in orbit, while Starlink is estimated to have upwards of 9,900. ®