Amazon lanz\u00f3 recientemente los dos primeros prototipos de su Proyecto Kuiper; OneWeb ahora tiene los 634 sat\u00e9lites que necesita para proporcionar acceso global a Internet. Despu\u00e9s de un a\u00f1o de retrasos, Amazon lanz\u00f3 el 6 de octubre los dos primeros prototipos de sat\u00e9lites en su constelaci\u00f3n de banda ancha planificada Project Kuiper, una red que est\u00e1 desarrollando el multimillonario propietario Jeff Bezos para competir contra la mega constelaci\u00f3n Starlink de su rival Elon Musk. La pregunta es: \u00bfPuede Amazon, o cualquier otro actor de la industria, ponerse al d\u00eda, a medida que SpaceX contin\u00faa expandi\u00e9ndose y fortaleciendo su bloqueo cercano al mercado en los servicios de Internet basados en el espacio con casi 5,000 sat\u00e9lites Starlink ya en \u00f3rbita?<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014 After a year of delays, Amazon on Oct. 6 launched the first two prototype satellites in its planned\u00a0Project Kuiper<\/a>\u00a0broadband constellation \u2014 a network under development by billionaire-owner Jeff Bezos to compete against\u00a0rival Elon Musk\u2019s\u00a0Starlink<\/a>\u00a0mega-constellation.<\/p>\n The question is: Can Amazon, or any other industry player, actually catch up, as SpaceX continues to expand and strengthen its near-market lock on space-based internet services with nearly 5,000 Starlink satellites already on orbit?<\/p>\n Beyond global civilian internet connectivity, the answer will be of acute importance to the Defense Department as it seeks to broaden its use of commercial space capabilities, especially as some officials and members of Congress increasingly fret about the wisdom of relying too heavily on the infamously mercurial Musk.<\/p>\n While Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall\u00a0last month<\/a>\u00a0said he isn\u2019t concerned about working with SpaceX, which also is a primary supplier of launch services for military satellites, due to DoD\u2019s contracting practices, Musk\u2019s actions over the past year regarding\u00a0Starlink\u2019s role in the Ukraine war<\/a>\u00a0have raised eyebrows elsewhere in Washington. For example, Sen. Jack Reed, R-R.I., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a\u00a0Sept. 14 announcement<\/a>\u00a0said that the committee is \u201caggressively probing\u201d Musk\u2019s alleged actions in Ukraine and vowed \u201cto engage\u201d with DoD to ensure US national security interests are protected. (Musk\u00a0has defended<\/a>\u00a0his company\u2019s work in Ukraine.)<\/p>\n One way to do that, of course, would be to find other commercial partners for low-latency, high-volume satellite communications required to do things like stream video and support data-dense military battle management networks \u2014if such an alternative exists.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s the big thing here, and not just for DoD,\u201d said Secure World Foundation\u2019s Brian Weeden. \u201cCan another company overcome the same engineering and technical hurdles to build out a constellation of thousands of satellites that will create competition with Starlink?\u201d<\/p>\n Veteran telecoms industry consultant Tim Farrar agreed, noting that even if other constellations such as Kuiper and\u00a0OneWeb<\/a>\u00a0get up and can provide similar global access to Starlink, it could be hard for new entrants to convince customers to sign up.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to be held to a higher standard because Starlink\u2019s already in the market with a global service that offers high bandwidth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Project Kuiper: A Long Road Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n Amazon intends to loft a total of 3,236 satellites to provide global connectivity, and under its current license with the Federal Communications Commission is on the hook to have half of them on orbit and working by the end of 2026. In an explainer\u00a0on Amazon\u2019s website<\/a>, the company said its \u201cfirst production satellites are on track for launch in the first half of 2024, to be in beta testing with early commercial customers by the end of 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n The Oct. 6 launch included two prototypes, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, that will serve as test-beds for the constellation.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is Amazon\u2019s first time putting satellites into space, and we\u2019re going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds,\u201d said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper\u2019s vice president of technology in the explainer.<\/p>\n DoD\u2019s Defense Innovation Unit already is looking at Project Kuiper\u2019s potential to be part of a future\u00a0\u201chybrid architecture\u201d<\/a>\u00a0that links together government and commercial satellite communications networks, under a contract announced\u00a0last November<\/a>. DIU is collaborating with the Space Force, the Space Warfighting Analysis Center (SWAC), and Air Force Research Laboratory on the effort,\u00a0which is interacting with total of eight companies.<\/p>\n But Farrar argues that \u201cit\u2019s going to be quite a few years before [Project Kuiper] have enough satellites to offer a commercial service,\u201d with connectivity to rival Starlink not likely available until 2026 of 2027.<\/p>\n Enter OneWeb<\/strong><\/p>\n In terms of p-LEO coverage and broadband capacity, Starlink\u2019s biggest competitor currently on the market is OneWeb, recently acquired by European telecoms giant Eutelsat with a special share remaining in the hands of the British government.<\/p>\n OneWeb\u2019s constellation is operating at about 1,200 kilometers above the Earth, where fewer birds are needed to cover the globe than at the approximately 550 kilometer orbit where Starlink is stationed. And rather than looking to sell directly to consumers like Starlink and Project Kuiper, OneWeb is employing a business-to-business model. It sells service packages to distributors, such as its close partner Airbus, which in turn broker deals with users \u2014 with an emphasis in the near-term on governments and militaries.<\/p>\n \u201cOneWeb has managed to do it with hundreds of satellites, but they\u2019re at a different altitude and have a different strategy,\u201d Weeden said.<\/p>\n In particular, OneWeb from the get-go has had an specific interest in sales to the US military, via its US arm, OneWeb Technologies, based in Virginia. \u201cOneWeb Technologies was built from the ground floor up to meet or exceed the US DoD requirements,\u201d Kevin Steen, CEO of OneWeb Technologies, told Breaking Defense On Oct. 13. For example, he said, the company\u2019s terminals employ jam proofing and use open standards to allow military users to pair them with outside satellite providers \u2014 thus to avoid vendor lock.<\/p>\n OneWeb now has all 634 satellites needed to provide global access on orbit, Charlie Clark, mobility marketing director, told Breaking Defense in an Oct. 6 interview.<\/p>\n While the satellites are now in place, she explained, OneWeb at the moment has yet to expand connectivity outside of Europe and the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, we have commercial service live from the North Pole down to 35 degrees north, which effectively means we cover the majority of the US, Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia and, and all of mainland Europe and the UK, and then the oceans in between. So, we are rolling out our our coverage and by\u00a0 Q1 Next year, we will have global service availability.\u201d<\/p>\n That footprint does mean, however, that OneWeb now can provide connectivity over the Arctic, which is something\u00a0US Northern Command has been pushing for<\/a>. It also could augment or provide an alternate to Starlink for the embattled government in Kyiv as it enters its 21st month of fighting to repel Russia\u2019s invading forces.<\/p>\n OneWeb already is a participant in the Space Force\u2019s five-year indefinite delivery\/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract vehicle launched\u00a0in July to enable<\/a>\u00a0acquisition of\u00a0services<\/a>\u00a0from commercial operators of constellations in low Earth orbit (called p-LEO networks).<\/p>\n The initial set of contracts involved 16 firms, but a Space Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense on Oct. 3 that since summer three more had been added.<\/p>\n Building A Diverse Supplier Base<\/strong><\/p>\n However, SpaceX for the moment is the only one of those firms to have one an actual tasking order for services from the US military, the Space Force spokesperson said.\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a>\u00a0first reported the Sept. 1 contract, worth $70 million, for services to be provided by SpaceX\u2019s military-oriented twin to Starlink called Starshield. It represents Starshield\u2019s first (public anyway) contract.<\/p>\n The Space Force spokesperson stressed that the service does intend to issue more tasking orders under the contracting vehicle that would likely go to other firms.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO), as a part of the Commercial Space Office, has received great demand for service under the pLEO IDIQ from services and Combatant Commands. CSCO is gathering requirements and is responsive to customers and will be executing numerous task orders under the pLEO IDIQ,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Farrar, however, noted that the big question will be what more funding actually is available. But despite all the challenges facing potential SpaceX broadband rivals, he said the emergence of new providers is good for DoD and other government customers.<\/p>\n The US government \u201cis going to have an increasing set of choices over time. It\u2019s going to be able to use OneWeb over the next year, and Amazon, at some point within four or five years. That\u2019s very helpful in terms of disciplining Starlink in terms of their demands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Clark concurred.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s supplier diversity, isn\u2019t it? You never want to be caught in a situation where you\u2019ve got all your eggs in one basket,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n