Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, has an estimated net worth of $ 209 billion. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has an estimated net worth of $ 192 billion. (By comparison, even the lower figure was higher than the annual gross domestic product of more than half of the world’s countries by 2020, according to the International Monetary Fund.)
At the heart of going back and forth is a recent attempt by SpaceX to change its license for Starlink, a massive constellation of internet satellites, of which SpaceX has already launched over 900. SpaceX already has permission from the US federal government to launch thousands of satellites to expand the Starlink constellation, and in recent submissions to the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX has said it wants to place several thousand of these satellites at a lower altitude than previously planned or authorized.
This proposed change could put Starlink satellites in the path of another constellation, called Project Kuiper, which was proposed by Amazon. The company has not yet launched any satellites, but has obtained an FCC license for the project.
Amazon’s current plans include placing some of its satellites in orbit about 590 km (or about 366 miles) above the Earth’s surface. The changes to its license for which SpaceX claims would allow the company to orbit nearly 3,000 satellites at an altitude of 540 to 570 km (336 to 354 miles), which Amazon considers too close for comfort. The company argued in its objection that Starlink satellites at this altitude could cause more signal interference with Project Kuiper satellites and other nearby satellite networks.
Musk himself tweeted on Tuesday, saying, “It doesn’t help the public to paralyze Starlink today for an Amazon satellite system that is at least a few years away.”
Amazon declined in a statement, saying, “The facts are simple. We designed the Kuiper system to avoid interference with Starlink, and now SpaceX wants to change the design of its system.”
“These changes not only create a more dangerous environment for space collisions, but also increase radio interference for customers,” the statement said. “Despite what SpaceX publishes on Twitter, the changes proposed by SpaceX are those that would hinder competition between satellite systems. It is clearly in SpaceX’s interest to stifle swing competition if they can, but it is certainly not in the public interest.”
SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment or respond to CNN’s questions for more than eight months.
Placing satellites in lower orbits is generally considered good practice because, if a satellite malfunctioned, the Earth’s gravity could take it out of orbit – and away from other satellites – faster. Satellites that die at higher altitudes can become uncontrolled projectiles that remain in orbit for years or even decades. For example, a dead Russian communications satellite and a satellite belonging to the American telecommunications company iridium collided about 789 km above the Earth in 2009, creating a huge field of debris that is still in orbit and poses a constant risk to satellites in proximity.
SpaceX has agreed, according to FCC documents, that it will restrict Starlink satellites to “altitudes of 580 km or less”. But essentially, this restriction will only start after Amazon starts launching its own satellites, and it’s not at all clear if SpaceX would comply with it before Amazon starts building its own constellation. Amazon has not said when the launch will begin, but the company’s FCC license gives it until July 2026 to build at least half of the planned constellation.