Amazon to acquire Globalstar and expand Amazon Leo satellite network

kumarvvr

So, Amazon wants to own the tubes too? I guess the stack should be completed with this. AWS servers, satellite communications, boxes to view content on TVs, apps on mobiles, content creation studios, advertising, product placement, product sales. Whew! I guess they also want expertise to launch stuff into space, in case it becomes feasible to run space data centers.

jameslk

SpaceX and Amazon seem to be headed for competing with traditional telecoms and ISPs. I'm betting the next acquisition target will be AST SpaceMobile. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see big telecom/ISP mergers pass regulatory approval now that they have competition from the heavens

Ekaros

I wonder if there will become a point where these companies will be considered too big and will be forcibly cut up to smaller chunks... If feels like they have tentacles in everything now.

spondyl

Oh, I missed the memo that Amazon Leo is the new name for Project Kuiper, rebranded in November of last year. I saw a presentation back when it was Kuiper so have still been calling it that

ck2

Are we going to be able to see the night sky by the end of this decade? https://satellitemap.space And what's the effect on cancer rates, etc. from all that toxic pollution to both launch the satellites and then vaporize them in the atmosphere years later? https://bloomberg.com/graphics/2025-space-orbit-satellites-p... Sure would be nice if the answers to these questions were not guessing before we do the damage and impossible to fix after

Egonex

People think that with better D2D technology, emergency and telemetry messages will still be short and to the point. These messages will not be like streaming videos. When companies work together on things, like spectrum and constellations and handset deals it changes how people get billed.. It does not change the fact that people want to keep the messages small when millions of devices are using the same channel. I am curious to see if people will still talk about having satellite access or if they will start talking about paying for what they use once this is up and running. D2D technology is still going to be used for these messages.

supernova87a

I remain convinced that the main successful business model in the satellite communications industry is to wait for the first incarnation of the satellite company to fail / go bankrupt / flounder, and then be part of the 2nd round of financing or ownership that comes in to buy it out and operate it... I don't know why this is the pattern but it seems to have played out several times over the last 2 decades that I've casually watched this syndrome.

crowcroft

Naive question - let's assume this all becomes a really competitive market and 10+ companies are pumping satellites into orbit. Are we going to run out of space? At some point it probably makes the most sense for there to be one wholesaler of satellite connections and then many retailers right? The market skews towards being an international natural monopoly, right?

lxgr

See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770323 My comment from there: Interesting, I was expecting Apple to eventually buy them. Still, makes sense to me: The aging Globalstar satellite constellation itself is probably not very interesting to Amazon, but their global L-band and S-band spectrum is, as are their existing licenses to operate a mobile satellite service in most countries.

lenerdenator

We need to start requiring that for each batch of satellites that goes up, some piece of space junk - hell, any piece of space junk - gets brought back to Earth's surface in one piece for proper recycling.

josefritzishere

Any reasonable government regulatory agency would block this aquisition. Amazon just laid off 16,000 people. They are unworthy of further consolidation.

ChrisArchitect

Related: Amazon acquires Apple's satellite partner https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47768723