Blue Origin has announced it will launch a new constellation consisting of an interconnected network of 5,408 low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellites.
Called TeraWave, these satellites will be able to carry data using both radio frequencies and optical connectivity. The LEO element of the network will deliver RF connectivity and will comprise 5,280 satellites, while the remaining 128 will be MEO satellites and will handle optical comms.
"This multi-orbit design enables ultra-high-throughput links between global hubs and distributed, multi-gigabit user connections, particularly in remote, rural, and suburban areas where diverse fibre paths are costly, technically infeasible, or slow to deploy," said Blue Origin.
"TeraWave enterprise-grade user and gateway terminals can be rapidly deployed worldwide and interface with existing high-capacity infrastructure, providing additional route diversity and strengthening overall network resilience."
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Blue Origin will pitch TeraWave at large enterprises and government agencies.
"TeraWave addresses the unmet needs of customers who are seeking higher throughput, symmetrical upload/download speeds, more redundancy, and rapid scalability," Blue Origin said, adding that it will offer both point-to-point connectivity and enterprise-grade Internet access.
Extremely high-speed, symmetrical throughput will be on offer, with the RF connection topping out at an impressive 144 Gbps, and optical links claiming to max out at a staggering 6 Tbps.
This is a bold claim given the nascency of optical satellite network technology.
SoftBank as recently as October outlined plans to launch an LEO satellite later this year that will serve as a test-bed for optical non-terrestrial networking. When up and running, it will support a maximum bi-directional data rate of 10 Gbps.
Blue Origin said it plans to begin deploying the TeraWave network by the fourth quarter of 2027.
That implies it has overcome – or is very close to overcoming – all of the challenges that arise when trying to establish optical communication between the Earth and satellites.
As detailed by SoftBank, the shortness of optical wavelengths relative to radio means that transceivers have to point directly at one another, and therefore their orientation requires constant fine tuning in order to maintain a stable connection to a moving object, like an MEO or LEO satellite.
Then there's the elephant in the room. This particular one shares its name with a big river and resembles an e-commerce giant, hyperscale cloud provider and budding LEO satellite operator all rolled into one.
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Recently renamed from Project Kuiper to Amazon Leo, Amazon's satellite operation has more than 150 satellites in orbit, and various big companies – including airline JetBlue, TV provider Sky Brasil, and Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN), among others – have signed up to resell service.
As well as personal Internet services, it also offers connectivity to both businesses and governments.
While Blue Origin seems to have targeted a slightly different, perhaps more demanding customer profile, it is nonetheless unusual to see two companies, both under the significantly-sized ownership of Jeff Bezos, preparing to compete almost directly with one another in a market that is so costly to enter.
About the Author
Freelance writer
Nick is a freelancer who has covered the global telecoms industry for more than 15 years. Areas of expertise include operator strategies; M&As; and emerging technologies, among others. As a freelancer, Nick has contributed news and features for many well-known industry publications. Before that, he wrote daily news and regular features as deputy editor of Total Telecom. He has a first-class honours degree in journalism from the University of Westminster.