SpaceX Plots Next Satellite Launch in Musk’s Race Against Bezos
SpaceX Plots Next Satellite Launch in Musk’s Race Against Bezos
(Bloomberg) -- Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is weeks away from flying a second batch of satellites into orbit for a broadband internet project Elon Musk is racing to set up before fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos.
“We basically can close the network with 360 or 400 satellites, so roughly six launches,” Shotwell said Tuesday at an industry conference in Paris. “Hopefully we will have six launches done in the next six months or so.”
Musk has described Starlink as a multibillion-dollar endeavor to provide broadband to much of the roughly 4 billion people worldwide who lack affordable, reliable internet access. Others with similar ambitions include Amazon.com Inc. and Bezos, who runs rival rocket company Blue Origin LLC.
In response to a report in April that summarized Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Musk called Bezos a copycat on Twitter.
On the sidelines of the Summit for Satellite Financing conference, Shotwell was more cautious.
“I don’t know what their business plan is for Kuiper,” she said, when asked if Amazon was copying SpaceX. “I can’t say that yet.”
--With assistance from Dana Hull.
To contact the reporter on this story: Angelina Rascouet in Paris at arascouet1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Trudell at ctrudell1@bloomberg.net, Melinda Grenier
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