Christian Davenport

Amazon stretched its reach to space, sending its first two internet satellites to orbit, a key step toward building out a constellation of more than 3,000 satellites that it hopes will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink system to provide online access to millions without it. The pair of prototype satellites were launched from Cape Canaveral (FL) on October 6. Over the coming days and weeks, Amazon hopes to use the satellites to “add real-world data from space to years of data collected from lab and field testing” as it works to put up the rest of its Kuiper constellation. Amazon, which has said

On Feb 27, the first six of satellites of Greg Wyler's company, OneWeb, are expected to be launched from a remote launch site in French Guiana, a key step toward building out a constellation that could eventually reach nearly 2,000. If the company's plans are successful, it would be nothing short of revolutionary: becoming one of the world’s largest providers of Internet service by building the architecture in space, allowing the billions without access to Wi-Fi to finally use the Web. “The ultimate goal is to connect every school in the world, and bridge the digital divide,” Wyler said.

Apparently, an expensive, highly classified US spy satellite is presumed to be a total loss after it failed to reach orbit atop a Space Exploration Technologies Corp. rocket on Jan 7. Lawmakers and congressional staffers from the Senate and the House have been briefed about the botched mission, some of the officials said. The secret payload—code-named Zuma and launched from Florida on board a Falcon 9 rocket—is believed to have plummeted back into the atmosphere, they said, because it didn’t separate as planned from the upper part of the rocket.

In a letter to the Pentagon Oct 21, Rep Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said he was concerned a contract to provide Internet service to deployed soldiers could allow the use of Russian satellites, jeopardizing troops’ privacy and security.

Previous service at bases’ Internet cafes had “stringent security measures,” Rep Hunter wrote to Army Lt. Gen. Alan Lynn, the head of the Defense Information Systems Agency. But he said he was worried the “contracting arrangement creates unnecessary security risks, given that our deployed warfighters could be exposed to transmitting their personal information over unprotected networks that are controlled by foreign and potentially hostile entities.” In an interview, Rep Hunter, who served three tours as Marine, said, “this is one of the dumbest things we could do. Why give the Russians the ability to basically spy on American military personnel when there are so many other options?” A DISA spokesperson said the agency could not discuss the provisions of the contract or which companies may have submitted offers.