The Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin rocket system is due to make its first flight carrying humans on July 20th. Bezos and his brother Mark will be on the flight along with the winner of the recent auction for a seat on the New Shepard version of the rocket. “Ever since I was five years old, […]
The risk of satellites bumping into each other is already very real. Now China is joining the low Earth orbit ‘space race’ and planning to launch around 20,000 new craft into orbit. Add this 20,000 to the near-40,000 planned by Elon Musk, another 3300 from Jeff Bezos, around 800 from the UK-backed OneWeb plus dozens […]
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin/New Shephard rocket is scheduled to carry its first space tourist passengers on July 20th. The move means that Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will now be a very definite second place in the race to tap into space tourism. A note to clients from investment bank UBS says that Virgin Galactic […]
Jeff Bezos is offering a seat on the debut passenger launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Those interested can bid for the solitary place. The flight is scheduled for July 20th and will be a globally publicised event, such is its importance. Blue Origin said: “We are offering one seat on this first flight […]
Elon Musk is getting closer to winning FCC approval to fly some of his Starlink low Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites at even lower heights. Acting FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel has asked her board colleagues to formally vote on the plan having herself endorsed the idea. SpaceX is already licensed to operate 1,584 of its Starlink […]
The news that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is now publicly committing to using the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) giant Atlas 5 rocket was no great surprise. However, his decision allows a noticeably clear opportunity for a ‘contrast and compare’ between the Bezos-backed Project Kuiper and arch-rival Elon Musk’s Starlink scheme. The two rivals are also […]
Jeff Bezos has contracted nine rocket launches with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch his initial Project Kuiper low Earth orbiting (LEO) broadband-by-satellite craft. The contract means that for the time being he is not depending on his own Blue Origin rocket system. “We’re determined to make affordable broadband a reality for customers and […]
Just hours before NASA awarded a massive $2.9 billion contract to restart human flights to the Moon – and back – Elon Musk, in one of his Tweets, told an enquirer that SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite service would be transitioning out of a widespread beta-programme into conventional usage “probably by this summer”. Moreover, Musk answered another […]
In a letter to its shareholders, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has revealed that Amazon Prime now has over 200 million subscribers worldwide – adding 50 million in the last 12 months alone, aided strongly by the pandemic. Bezos wrote: “We have 200 million Prime members, for a total in 2020 of $126 billion […]
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos reusable rocket project, Blue Origin, successfully launched its large New Shepard rocket and capsule to a height of some 106 kms (some 340,000 feet) before returning to Earth. The booster rocket returned to Earth in a textbook landing to its designated zone. The 6-seat capsule made its own descent with a parachute-aided […]