Amazon, fighting SpaceX’s Starlink plans, says Elon Musk’s businesses don’t care about rules

Amazon on Wednesday called Elon Musk’s SpaceX a serial rule breaker amid a lingering fight over the two companies’ plans to build rival satellite networks. The conflict, carried out in the context of lengthy files filed with the Federal Communications Commission, is nothing new. But this time, Amazon sent FCC officials a comprehensive list of Musk’s past issues with other regulators, mounting its most aggressive attempt to date to push back SpaceX’s rapid schedule for deploying its satellites to the wide range. bandaged.

“Try to get a company run by Musk to obey the flight rules?” You are ‘fundamentally broken,’ ”Amazon wrote in its file, referring to when Musk complained that the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulatory structure was slowing SpaceX operations. “Try to get a company run by Musk to follow health and safety rules?” You are “unelected and ignorant”, “he added, referring to Muskox with officials who has sought to keep factories closed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

This particular fight – there has been a lot of it – dates back to the start of the year when SpaceX offered an update to its Starlink network, a vast constellation of low-earth orbiting satellites designed to broadcast high-speed internet in high-speed areas. rural areas with little or no internet connections. SpaceX currently has more than 1,700 satellites in orbit, with approximately 100,000 customers using its Internet services in beta. Amazon is planning a similar satellite network called Kuiper with more than 3,000 satellites, but it has yet to reveal production plans or launch any satellites into space.

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Last month, SpaceX filed a request to adjust its proposal to the FCC, asking the commission to approve two plans to deploy Starlink satellites in the future. SpaceX, according to its dossier, would only implement one of the two plans, mainly based on its decision on how quickly its next generation of Starlink satellites will be ready for launch and when its Starship rocket is ready to start launching. these Starlink satellites. Since 2019, SpaceX has used its Falcon 9 rockets to launch dozens of dedicated Starlink satellite missions into space. But Starship, a much larger rocket that’s still in development, would send satellites into their target orbit faster, according to SpaceX.

Amazon called the days later, saying SpaceX’s strategy of offering two mutually exclusive plans went against previous ones and “requires significant effort” for the FCC and other companies to consider. SpaceX wasn’t buying it. “Amazon puts a strain on gullibility by suggesting that it lacks the resources to analyze SpaceX’s claim, especially since Amazon regularly brings up to six lobbyists and lawyers to its numerous meetings with the Commission on SpaceX,” SpaceX retorted in another file.

Amazon, in its latest filing, acknowledged that it was “in a good position” to assess the proposals, but added that “this burden could be heavier” on other companies that have commented on SpaceX’s plan. Companies have time to analyze and oppose plans offered by other companies in case there is a chance that it interferes with their operations.

SpaceX’s rapid pace of new technology development – supercharged by Musk funding and lofty investment cycles – often goes faster than government agencies are able to regulate them, creating all manner of problems and drama. and, sometimes, direct violations. Proposing two tentative plans for the FCC to consider, while unconventional, is an attempt to embark the FCC with SpaceX’s rapid development ethic, which is defined by the company’s highly touted “iterative approach”: deploy things first, put them in orbit, so plan for incremental updates – or iterations – to eliminate inefficiencies in the design of future satellites. SpaceX has started launching the first iteration of some 30,000 Starlink satellites slated for 2019 and has more than 1,700 currently in orbit.

Now SpaceX wants to deploy an improved generation of satellites, built larger and with additional capabilities such as laser links, which eliminate the need for ground stations by allowing satellites to talk to each other and relay communications in orbit when they are pass over user areas.

This production strategy is a bit like developing SpaceX with Starship: launch the thing first, fix any design errors or inefficiencies that appear along the way, change the design, relaunch, rinse, and repeat. In SpaceX’s rocket world, the iterative approach has pissed off regulators. And in the satellite world, it’s pissing off SpaceX’s competitors. SpaceX has made great progress regardless of these obstacles.

“On the iteration side, that’s what keeps people engaged,” said Jonathan Hofeller, Starlink vice president of commercial sales at SpaceX on Wednesday. “With Starlink, we are definitely taking advantage of it, and we challenge everyone to take advantage of it,” he said, adding that “the conventional way of making satellites takes too long.”

“People come to SpaceX… because they see the action,” Hofeller said. “This is how people get involved in what you do. “