TeraWave is positioned to compete with Amazon Leo as an enterprise-focused satellite constellation.

The TeraWave ground segment is designed to include operations centers, gateway Earth stations with parabolic antennas, user terminals, and optical terminals.

Blue Origin characterizes the TeraWave multi-orbit design as enabling ultra-high-throughput links between global hubs and distributed multigigabit user connections, particularly in remote, rural, and suburban areas.

Blue Origin plans to deploy TeraWave, a new constellation of optically linked satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO).

Blue Origin requested a waiver of FCC processing round rules for NGSO systems for the TeraWave filing, arguing the system is designed to share spectrum and would not preclude additional operators in the same band.

TeraWave will consist of 5,280 satellites in LEO and 128 satellites in MEO.

TeraWave is designed to serve around 100,000 customers rather than the millions targeted by some current LEO constellations.

Blue Origin positions TeraWave enterprise-grade user and gateway terminals as rapidly deployable worldwide and as able to interface with existing high-capacity infrastructure to provide route diversity and strengthen network resilience.

TeraWave is designed to offer symmetrical bandwidth with identical download and upload speeds and to provide point-to-point connectivity and enterprise-grade internet access.

Lindo St. Angel contributed to the development of Amazon consumer devices including Echo, Fire Tablet, Fire TV, Kindle, and Astro.

Lindo St. Angel previously worked at Amazon for 15 years and served as vice president of hardware for Amazon’s Lab126 unit.

Lindo St. Angel leads TeraWave as senior vice president of Emerging Systems at Blue Origin.

Jeff Bezos founded both Amazon and Blue Origin, and Amazon and Blue Origin operate as separate companies.

The HummingSat Partnership Project is part of ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) programme.

HummingSat micro-geostationary satellites will be placed in geostationary orbit approximately 36,000 kilometres above Earth.

HummingSat micro-geostationary satellites will have a launch mass of around 1,000 kilograms.

ESA and SWISSto12 signed a contract in early 2022 to begin work on the HummingSat Partnership Project.

SWISSto12 will use the new ESA Member State funding to accelerate development and industrialisation of HummingSat and to scale up HummingSat manufacturing capacity.

HummingSat micro-geostationary satellites will have a volume of 1.5 cubic metres.

Intelsat became the first HummingSat customer when it signed an agreement with SWISSto12 in November 2022.

Member States committed €30 million in initial funding for SWISSto12’s HummingSat project at the 2022 ESA Ministerial Council meeting in Paris.

SWISSto12’s HummingSat satellites will be approximately one-tenth the volume of a traditional geostationary satellite.

ESA Partnership Projects provide co-funding to satellite operators developing innovative solutions for the telecommunications market.

SWISSto12 sold four HummingSat satellites, one to Intelsat and three to Viasat.

The Intelsat HummingSat originally expected to launch in 2025 now has a launch date expected no earlier than 2027.

SWISSto12 is based in Renens, Switzerland.

HummingSat micro-geostationary satellites will have an operational lifespan of 15 years.

ESA Member States committed €73 million in additional funding for SWISSto12’s HummingSat project at the 2025 ESA Ministerial Council meeting.

The Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture is managed by the Space Development Agency.

The Otter is an ESPA-class satellite servicing vehicle designed for autonomous rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking.

Space Systems Command awarded Starfish Space a $52.5 million contract to provide end-of-life disposal services for the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

The U.S. Department of Defense is deploying hundreds of satellites into Low Earth Orbit, increasing concern about orbital debris from defunct assets.

The Otter is approximately ten times smaller in mass than traditional satellite servicers and uses high-efficiency electric propulsion to execute high-precision maneuvers at a lower cost profile.

Validation of the Nautilus mechanism during the Otter Pup 2 mission will be the final technical gate before the Otter begins its multi-year deorbiting campaign for the Space Force.

The first operational Otter vehicles supporting the $52.5 million disposal contract are expected to launch in late 2026.

The Otter Pup 2 mission is scheduled to launch in 2025 to perform a commercial satellite docking in Low Earth Orbit by attaching to a D-Orbit ION spacecraft.

Space Systems Command awarded Starfish Space a $37.5 million STRATFI contract in June 2024 to demonstrate augmented maneuver capabilities for national security assets in geostationary orbit.

Starfish Space is headquartered in Tukwila, Washington.

The $52.5 million contract is the first Deorbit-as-a-Service agreement for a Low Earth Orbit constellation.

Under the contract, Starfish Space will use its Otter servicing vehicle to autonomously dock with and safely deorbit defunct satellites within the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

Blue Origin’s constellation will deliver symmetrical data speeds of up to 6 Tbps anywhere on Earth.

TeraWave is a moderate competitor to Telesat for Enterprise and Government data connectivity markets.

Kepler Communications hosts payloads with onboard processing.

TeraWave positions itself as a dedicated pipeline for massive data loads of up to 6 Tbps targeting Enterprise and Government customers.

Kepler Communications has begun deployment of its optical data relay constellation with a first tranche of 10 satellites launched earlier this month.

SpaceX Starship will provide significantly more payload volume including a 9-meter fairing when it enters commercial service.

New Glenn has a 7-meter payload fairing.

Blue Origin plans to achieve RF download and upload speeds up to 144 Gbps and optical link speeds up to 6 Tbps.

Blue Origin will deploy a constellation of 5,408 satellites in low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit.

Blue Origin targets customers seeking higher throughput, symmetrical upload/download speeds, more redundancy, and rapid scalability.