Blue Origin, a nascent low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) provider, announced that it will deploy TeraWave, a network capable of data speeds as fast as 6 Tbps, during the fourth quarter of 2027.
The constellation of 5,408 interconnected satellites will consist of 5,280 LEO satellites and 128 MEO satellites.
The press release says that TeraWave will provide both point-to-point and enterprise-grade internet access. It will be aimed at the enterprise, data center, and government sectors. The Blue Origin network promises to offer symmetrical RF speeds as fast as 144 Gbps in addition to the 6 Tbps optical data rates. Coverage will be global, with a maximum of 100,000 customers served.
Reliance on two orbits will facilitate “ultra-high” throughput links between global hubs and distributed, multigigabit user connections. The company says this will be particularly valuable in remote, rural and suburban areas in which diverse fiber paths can be problematic in terms of technical feasibility and the time it takes to deploy.
The satellites will be launched by Blue Origin rockets and reusable rocket engines. Though both companies track back to Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin and its network are separate from Amazon Leo.
Last November, Amazon Leo, which has more than 150 satellites in orbit, launched a preview enabling business customers to test the network using production hardware and software. At the time, the company said the goal was to enable collection of more customer feedback and tailor solutions for specific industries. The plan is to launch more broadly this year.
Amazon Leo changed its name from Project Kuiper last November. At the time of the change, the company said that it had one of the largest production lines in operation and had developed an advanced customer terminal and what it claimed was the first commercial phased array antenna supporting gigabit speeds.
