Amazon launches paid cloud computing for use in the space

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing branch of the company, has announced a new offering for satellite operators.

The news: At its annual re: Invent conference in Seattle this week, the internet giant unveiled a service that allows satellite owners to rent out time on Amazon-managed ground stations to send and receive data in the UK. orbit. The service, called AWS Ground Station, works in the same way as Amazon's well-established enterprise to leverage computing capacity through the cloud.

Ground control …: According to an AWS blog post, large companies with a large number of satellites typically build and operate their own ground stations, costing a million dollars or more for each of them. Small businesses that can not afford to buy their own kit often end up signing inflexible, long-term contracts with third-party owners and operators of such stations.

… to great flexibility: The new service will allow satellite operators access to a short-term ground station on a pay-per-view basis. Those who know how much capacity they will need well in advance can book in advance and pay less for downlink time. AWS starts with two ground stations and plans to install a dozen of them by the middle of next year. It will monitor the evolution of the application before deciding on the number of additional stations to add.

The space, the occupied border: AWS is betting that the next few years will see a proliferation of satellites in orbit around the Earth as companies like SpaceX prepare to launch a large number of satellites and governments develop ambitious plans for the construction of new constellations.