Despite the public beef between SpaceX Starlink founder Elon Musk and Blue Origin/Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the space cowboys appear to have formed a truce on behalf of their companies. It appears that Bezos had no choice but to contract SpaceX as launch provider (and other aerospace companies) because his own Blue Origin rockets currently do not have the capability to launch his Amazon Project Kuiper broadband satellites to orbit – which aims to someday compete with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet network for customers.

On December 1st, Amazon announced that it signed a contract with SpaceX for three Falcon 9 launches for Project Kuiper scheduled for mid-2025. Regarding the contract announcement, Musk said –“SpaceX launches competitor satellite systems without favor to its own satellites. Fair and square,” he wrote via X. 

“Project Kuiper satellites were designed from the start to accommodate multiple launch providers and vehicles, allowing us to reduce schedule risk and move faster in our mission to connect unserved and underserved communities around the world. Our earlier procurement of 77 heavy-lift rockets from Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) provides enough capacity to launch the majority of our satellite constellation, and the additional launches with SpaceX offer even more capacity to support our deployment schedule,” the company shared in a press release. 

Blue Origin has successfully completed suborbital launches with its New Shepard rocket, but it has yet to launch anything into orbit. This lack of experience contributed to Amazon’s decision to award launch contracts to other companies with established orbital launch capabilities. Bezos still aims to launch Amazon satellites on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket that is actively undergoing development. However, the launch vehicle has faced delays for years with a debut test flight planned for 2024. 

“Project Kuiper recently launched two prototype satellites, and tests from the mission have helped validate our satellite design and network architecture. We are preparing to start satellite manufacturing ahead of a full-scale deployment beginning in the first half of 2024, and we expect to have enough satellites deployed to begin early customer pilots in the second half of 2024,” said Amazon representatives.

Author’s note: Thanks for reading Cosmic Chronicles. Write your thoughts in the comment section below. If you have story suggestions or feedback, Direct Message me on social media 𝕏: Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo @JaneidyEve. Read the most recent stories featured below. Thank You.