The exchange of accusations between the two richest people in the world .. Who will decide the race?

Billionaire Elon Musk has dealt Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos a heavy blow as billionaire companies vie with federal regulators in a race to the satellite internet.

After Amazon asked the Federal Communications Commission to reject SpaceX’s latest amendment to its Starlink satellite network, Musk confirmed his company’s response that Bezos is an exceptional lawsuit.

“Filing a complaint against SpaceX is * actually * his full-time job,” Musk wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

SpaceX submitted an amendment to Starlink on August 19 to the FCC, outlining its plan for the second-generation version of its satellite network.

Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected Internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as the Constellation, designed to provide high-speed Internet to consumers everywhere on Earth. While the Starlink service is still in beta, the company has more than 100,000 users in 14 countries, with more than half a million orders or refundable deposits made by potential customers.

SpaceX has launched 1,740 satellites so far through its subsidiary Starlink, and the second generation is expected to contain around 30,000 satellites in total.

Amazon rejection request

Amazon operates on its own satellite internet called Project Kuiper. It plans to launch 3,236 Internet satellites into low earth orbit – a system that would rival Starlink. While Amazon moved into important early stage hardware for the antennas it needs to connect to the network in December, it has yet to start producing or launching its own satellites.

Bezos has asked the FCC to reject SpaceX’s second-generation modification request, saying it would violate FCC rules by offering two variants in orbit.

“Leaving almost all of the key details hanging in the air – such as altitude, tilt, and even the total number of satellites – SpaceX fails all tests,” wrote Maria Dodson Schumann, Amazon consultant for the Kuiper project. .

SpaceX’s director of satellite policy David Goldman responded to Amazon’s request on Tuesday, saying Bezos was trying to slow Starlink’s progress to help Project Kuiper catch up.

“The federal administration should recognize this delay tactic for what it is – a continuation of the Amazon family of companies’ efforts to block competitors in order to make up for Amazon’s failure to progress on its own,” Goldman wrote.

Goldman also said that Amazon had not updated the FCC for “nearly 400 days” on the Kuiper approach to interference and orbital debris, but it “only took 4 days to oppose “to the second-generation SpaceX modification.

“While Amazon has waited 15 months to explain how its system works, it has submitted objections to SpaceX on average every 16 days this year,” Goldman added.

Musk has publicly criticized Bezos’ companies several times over the past year, previously accusing Amazon of attempting to “hinder Starlink” and said space company Blue Origin “should consider spending money on it. real lunar landers, “rather than suing NASA and hiring consultants.