Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin signs launch deal with Canada's Telesat

Telesat

31/01/2019 18:23

By Joey Roulette
    ORLANDO, Fla., Jan 31 (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos' rocket
company, Blue Origin, has signed a deal with Canada's Telesat to
launch part of a satellite constellation aimed at providing
speedy internet access to governments and businesses globally,
the companies said on Thursday.
    The contract adds an important customer to Blue Origin's
manifest as Bezos' space venture works to grab a share of the
lucrative but crowded launch services market with its
still-in-development heavy-lift New Glenn rocket planned for
2021.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1UU02X
    Telesat, backed by Loral Space & Communications Inc
 LORL.O , said in October that it conducted the first-ever live
test of in-flight broadband via a satellite in low-Earth orbit.
It was targeting 2022 for broadband services from a
constellation of nearly 300 satellites.
    Blue Origin's rocket will propel some undisclosed portion of
the constellation into orbit over a number of launches, the
companies said.
    Telesat's network will "accelerate 5G expansion, bridge the
digital divide with fiber-like high speed services into rural
and remote communities, and set new levels of performance for
commercial and government connectivity," the company said in a
statement.
    Telesat is among a number of competing ventures planning
constellations that will beam down internet broadband from
space. Those include McLean, Virginia-based OneWeb, which
planned a first launch in February, and Elon Musk's SpaceX
Starlink project, which is scrambling for a first launch later
this year.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N1XC1AK
    The Satellite Industry Association lobby group estimates the
global market for satellite-based broadband and television
services is worth $127.7 billion, dwarfing the roughly $5.5
billion satellite launch services market.
    Amazon.com Inc  AMZN.O  founder Bezos' rocket company is
among a crop of billionaire-backed space ventures seeking to
disrupt the legacy launch services market with reusable rocket
technology.
    Blue Origin's New Glenn launcher is likely to face fierce
competition from heavy-lift rockets like SpaceX's Falcon Heavy
and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan, a joint venture from 
Boeing Co  BA.N  and Lockheed Martin Corp  LMT.N .
    In a key step, Telesat said it will choose between Europe's
Airbus SE  AIR.PA  and a partnership between Thales Alenia Space
and Maxar Technologies Inc to develop its constellation's ground
and space systems.
    Telesat also said it had an agreement with Alphabet Inc
 GOOGL.O  subsidiary Loon to build a control network for the
constellation. 

 (Reporting by Joey Roulette in Orlando, Florida
Editing by Eric M. Johnson and Bill Berkrot)
 ((Eric.m.johnson@thomsonreuters.com; +1 206 707 1218; Follow me
on Twitter @ByEricMJohnson; Reuters Messaging:
Eric.M.Johnson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))