Has Starlink already won the new space race?

After years of effort and some frustrating delays, Amazon’s dream of delivering high-speed internet to some of the remotest places on Earth quite literally got off the ground in April. A United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket dropped Kuiper’s 27 satellites 450km above the Earth, from where they will climb to their final orbit at 630km. The successful deployment marked more than the birth of a new internet service provider. It was the opening shot in a battle over the future of global connectivity, one that pits Amazon founder Jeff Bezos against fellow billionaire Elon Musk, owner of the world’s largest satellite broadband network Starlink, a subsidiary of parent company SpaceX. But the two tech titans also face competition from global powers such as China and the EU in a race to control the space-based infrastructure that will influence economic, military and digital power. It is a rivalry that has the potential to determine future digital divides — some countries under western systems, others under tightly controlled Chinese networks.