What if the internet goes down? That’s one question bitcoiners may soon not need to answer again as the race for space internet heats up.
Amazon, the world’s fourth biggest company with a market cap of $1.7 trillion, has announced plans to send 3,236 satellites to space through 83 launches over the next five years.
Vulcan of the United Launch Alliance, the rocket company by Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, is to cover 38 launches.
Blue Origin of Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, will have its New Glenn reusable rocket launch 12 missions to space.
Arianespace, the European rocket company, has penciled 18 Ariane 6 rocket launches for this Project Kuiper, Amazon’s space internet.
“This contract, the largest we’ve ever signed, is a great moment in Arianespace’s history,” Stéphane Israël, the CEO of Arianespace, said before adding:
“It will build on the European innovative spirit, industrial might, and years of experience, and it is a major win for the European launcher industry.”
Amazon is also working with Beyond Gravity (formerly RUAG Space), a Switzerland-headquartered space technology provider, to build low-cost, scalable satellite dispensers that will help deploy the Project Kuiper constellation.
Beyond Gravity is opening an all-new production facility as a result of the partnership, doubling its production capacity and creating dozens of jobs in Linköping, Sweden, Amazon said.
49 US states and 13 European countries will participate as suppliers or in helping to develop and manufacture these rockets in one of the biggest project of its kind.
An estimated $10 billion will be spent by Amazon on Project Kuiper to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband.
Some suggest they’ve booked anyone that isn’t SpaceX (and is European or American) for the next five years with a license deadline of 2026 to get half of their satellites going.
Most of these rockets, from Vulcan to Ariane to New Glenn, will be on their first flight as new generation rockets.
Giving SpaceX itself much needed competition while providing the globe, including miners in regions where the internet might be temporarily cut off due to disturbances, a choice of satellite internet providers.
Kazakhstan was the latest such country to briefly cut off the internet following sudden major protests there.
They have a lot of miners, and so bitcoin’s reliance on the internet to function was brought to light.
That clearly won’t be much of a problem any longer however as such miners can just connect to Starlink or Kuiper.
The fight of the two is the fight of two giants. Elon Musk of SpaceX and Bezos keep fighting for the title of the richest man on earth, with Bezos sometime overtaking Musk but the latter currently keeps that title.
As direct competitors, Amazon has no choice than to use anyone but SpaceX as you can’t rely on your biggest competitor to provide your basic and necessary, can’t do without, infrastructure. Regardless of the costs or any other consideration.
And thus, just like that, a whole new space industry is invigorated, this time running on plain ruthless capitalistic commerce, in addition to more academic or scientific missions.
Right in time too, as a generation raises its gaze to the vast opportunities of space, and the most amazing legacy for those that follow, even while brutes in Siberia play long outdated games for there is no game now, but the space game.
May the best win thus, as long as they’re of the enlightened civilization.
Source: https://www.trustnodes.com/2022/04/06/bitcoin-boosted-as-amazon-subsidizes-anyone-but-spacex