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Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

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Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#31

Post by CamelCaseName »

mrnobody_67 wrote: post #6

Gotta give it to them, Amazon is the only big tech company with a vision - the rest are just sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars in cash and no good ideas against which to deploy all those funds.

Google attempted something similar with loon[0] and FB with internet.org[1] (IIRC, FB also had a few other initiatives)

[0] https://loon.com/

[1] https://www.wired.com/story/what-happened-to-facebooks-grand...

And with regards to Amazon being the only big tech company with a vision -- I hear Apple just redesigned the monitor stand. Visionary.

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#32

Post by Rebelgecko »

ricardobeat wrote: post #7

Do we have the capability to manage the traffic with these 3k Amazon satellites + Starlink's 12k + OneWeb's 650 + all the stuff that's already up there? Starlink is the only one that mentions collision avoidance during operations.

OneWeb says plenty about collision avoidance if you look at their FCC filings and press statements. Amazon hasn't really gone into detail for what they're doing, but the FCC won't clear them unless they explain how they'll comply with deorbiting guidelines (and it looks like the FCC expects operators of these megaconstellations to do much more than the bare minimum).

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#33

Post by dvdbloc »

zaroth wrote: post #3

I assume there are a finite number of these swarms that we can deploy in LEO, both in economic terms as well as dedicating space and spectrum? I’ve heard of three companies now that want to achieve this. I’m not sure if there’s anything particularly distinctive about one versus the other, other than SpaceX is the only one with the proven launch capacity to bring that much mass to orbit. I have a lot less faith in Bez…

I’m confused on why it would be a waste to make shareholders better off, regardless of the fact that Amazon does not pay a dividend. Isn’t this the point of investing? It would be great to make shareholders better off and even better if we could improve internet access while we are at it.

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#34

Post by slfnflctd »

mft_ wrote: post #10
plotteddancer16 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon shareholders do not earn a dividend. SpaceX is not public, but rather would enrich a much smaller set of investors (and particularly Musk). What’s your point?

Aren't SpaceX creating Starlink to generate funds to support other projects; in particular, their plans to create the rockets and infrastructure to ultimately colonise Mars? i.e. not (primarily) to "enrich a much smaller set of investors (and particularly Musk)" ?

Yeah, that was silly and disingenuous. We're talking about a guy who could have retired in lavish luxury 15+ years ago if 'riches' were all he wanted. He is Mars or bust and looks like he's put together a company with the chops to pull it off.

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#35

Post by savrajsingh »

martythemaniak wrote: post #14
sytelus wrote: post #8

I thought sats in LEO have fundamental issue that they can’t stay up too long. In rather short time, their fuel would run out and they will burn off in atmosphere. Does this mean you have to keep replishining them at regular intervals like less than a year or two?

This used to be a huge issue when satellites had to be very big and expensive to launch. But today satellites can be much smaller (several hundred kg) and are much cheaper to launch, making this approach viable.

It’s a “feature” — things self dispose and you don’t end up with lots of junk in orbit

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#37

Post by BurningFrog »

martythemaniak wrote: post #22
onedognight wrote: post #11

This is a business that Apple should get into as well. They have the capital and Phones+internet would have great vertical synergy.

What they don't have is the rockets. SpaceX has cheap reusable Falcon 9s. Blue Origin is aiming to have a cheap reusable New Glenn in 2021. Apple would have to go with much more expensive traditional launchers.

Right. This seems a lot like a strategy to use/monetize spare launch capacity.

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#38

Post by BurningFrog »

sytelus wrote: post #8

I thought sats in LEO have fundamental issue that they can’t stay up too long. In rather short time, their fuel would run out and they will burn off in atmosphere. Does this mean you have to keep replishining them at regular intervals like less than a year or two?

You can see how this is very attractive if you have a lot of launch capacity to sell :)

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#39

Post by dragosmocrii »

bamboozled wrote: post #36

Seriously, let’s spend billions in renewable investment and government lobbying to fix the climate crisis. Wow, this is getting silly. Broadband internet is just not a fundamental human need, a habitable planet is.

Sadly, I think there's no incentive for doing well for the planet to get business value. Maybe when we'll run out of clean drinking water, or land, or clean air, then traditional businesses will invest in R&D and come up with ideas and products to sell you to alleviate the pain.. that's the the goal of a business. what we need is more philantropists. Jeff Bezos is not a philanthropist. Bill Gates on the other hand - more likely..

Re: Amazon's Satellite Project Will Cost Billions, Jeff Bezos Says

#40

Post by onlyrealcuzzo »

notyourwork wrote: post #28
nsx147 wrote: post #21

It would be great if Amazon Prime included internet access. One time fee for the dish, works with all their in-home stuff. Didn't FB try do this and scrapped the project?

As I recall Facebook tried to commandeer the “internet” for Indian citizens by provided a subset of the real internet.

So... Was the subset just all of Facebook and nothing else?
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