On Tuesday night, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted about Amazon's plans to launch 3236 satellites into orbit to provide high-speed Internet access to remote regions of the world. The project was codenamed "Project Kuiper".
Musk posted a tweet under the MIT Tech Report about "Project Kuiper" with the tag @JeffBezos (Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO) and only one word - "copy", adding an emoji with a picture of a cat (i.e. it turned out the word copycat - imitator).
The fact is that Musk-led private space company SpaceX is working on a similar project. SpaceX's Starlink division already received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval last November to launch 7518 satellites with the same goal of bringing global high-speed Internet to remote corners of the planet. With the FCC approval in March, SpaceX has the right to launch 11 satellites into orbit. In February this year, the company launched two experimental satellites Tintin-A and Tintin-B for the Starlink system into Earth orbit.
CNBC reported Sunday that Amazon has hired former SpaceX VP of satellite communications Rajeev Badyal Starlink to lead Project Kuiper. This is the same Badyal who was fired by Musk in June 2018 among a number of top managers due to the too slow pace of the Starlink satellite launch project.
The relationship between Musk and Bezos is not warm, as they constantly βmeasure their strengthsβ and exchange barbs.
For example, in 2015, Bezos proudly tweeted about a rocket launch from his private aerospace company, Blue Origin. In particular, he did not hide the fact that he was pleased with the successful launch and successful landing of the New Shepard rocket. βThe rarest of beasts is a used rocket,β Bezos said.
Musk immediately put in his two cents. βNot so rare. The SpaceX Grasshopper rocket completed 6 suborbital flights 3 years ago and still exists,β he quipped.
Source: 3dnews.ru