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The billionaire space race between Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk is intensifying.
What Happened: Project Kuiper, a satellite internet constellation initiative from Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), secured eight licenses and bought land in New Zealand.
The decision, reported by the New Zealand Herald, coincides with Musk's SpaceX satellite service — Starlink — growing its customer base in New Zealand from 12,000 to 37,000 in 2023.
"The applicant will install and operate telecommunications equipment on the land. The equipment will be used to provide broadband services to customers in New Zealand,” a decision summary from the Overseas Investment Office reads.
Project Kuiper’s satellites can provide broadband access to many regions, but need ground stations, like the ones obtained in New Zealand to operate.
Plans call for Project Kuiper to have more than 3,000 satellites in orbit. Rival Starlink has more than 6,000 satellites in operation and has a significant head start with its first commercial operations dating back to 2019.
Project Kuiper is expected to launch its production satellites in the fourth quarter of 2024 with commercial broadband service launching later in 2025.
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Why It's Important: The Project Kuiper deal has also led to speculation that Amazon could potentially work with Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB), which is based in New Zealand and a SpaceX competitor.
Amazon, which Bezos founded in 1994, is also working with United Launch Alliance, a company owned by Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) on launch vehicles to get its satellite constellation into low Earth orbit.
Bezos went on to launch aerospace company Blue Origin in 2000.
Project Kuiper's latest news comes as Blue Origin accelerates its own space initiatives. The company's New Glenn-1 launch vehicle is expected to launch Oct. 13 or later as part of a mission with NASA to Mars.
New Glenn is a reusable heavy-lift rocket that will put Blue Origin into deeper competition against SpaceX.
While Blue Origin and Project Kuiper are behind SpaceX and Starlink respectively, the latest news cycle shows that the battle between Musk and Bezos for the space sector could soon be heating up.
The rivalry has led to lawsuits and callouts in the past and could amplify as milestones are reached in the future.
Bezos stepped down from Amazon several years ago and in recent months has taken a more active role with Blue Origin. This move could signal a bigger focus on the space company as his attention has shifted away from Amazon.
Bezos recently gave a tour of the New Glenn factory with Everyday Astronaut, a well-known space sector website and social media account.
The billionaire becoming more involved with Blue Origin could signal the importance of upcoming projects and also come as Bezos looks to ramp up his rivalry with Musk.
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