On the same day that Alberto Gutiérrez has become the fourth Spaniard to travel to space, on a Blue Origin rocket, Jeff Bezos’ company has announced the deployment of the TeraWave constellation: more than 5,400 satellites designed to offer satellite connection of up to 6 Tbps. Yes, that’s 6,000 or 12,000 times faster than your fiber optics.
The announcement is surprising because just a few weeks ago Jeff Bezos’ «other» company announced the imminent commercialization of Amazon Leothe competition to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Why has Jeff Bezos started two satellite connection companies? These days, almost every business decision has the same answer: artificial intelligence.
TeraWave, satellite connection for data centers and companies
Amazon Leo is going to offer satellite connection through individual antenna or Direct to cell (direct to mobile) to companies and individual users. It will be operated by Amazon, although Blue Origin will put the satellites into orbit (and SpaceX, and anyone who can launch a rocket with cargo into space). It already has more than a hundred operating, but will deploy at least 3,236 satellites.
TeraWavefor its part, is riding the wave of AI, because it will be focused on “data centers, large companies and governments” to offer Internet at impossible speeds, as well as a “plan b” if there is a blackout or the terrestrial Internet goes down.
As you can see in this graph, TeraWave will deploy 5,280 satellites in low Earth orbit, and 128 satellites in medium orbit:
The low satellites will operate via radio frequency, reaching a maximum speed of 144 Gbps. Those in the medium orbit operate via optical connection, which means they need an unobstructed line of sight to the receiver. They are the ones who will offer up to 6 Tbps symmetrical.
By comparison, Amazon LEO offers 1 Gbps download and 400 Mbps upload, only by radio frequency. The difference is that TeraWave will have a maximum of 100,000 clientswhile LEO will accept millions.
It is surprising that the press release indicates that it will begin operating at the end of 2027, when it still does not have satellites in orbit, while Amazon Leo has needed a decade to launch 180…
It seems that the Internet connection is moving into space, and one wonders: Is there a sky for so many satellites? Where I say sky, I also say market…