Fri, December 15, 2023
By Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) - Europe is seeking final offers for a 6 billion euro ($6.55 billion) EU satellite constellation which is designed to compete with Elon Musk's Starlink and Jeff Bezos' Kuiper.
But authorities have been warned that the IRIS² system, initiated by the European Commission, risks missing out on the latest wave of artificial intelligence and becoming outdated before it is even launched due to bureaucracy.
The European Space Agency said on Friday it would seek final offers to develop the secure communications system, a flagship project spurred in part by the role of Musk's Starlink as a backbone for Ukraine in the war with Russia.
For now, the sole known bidder for the main IRIS² contract is a consortium of Airbus, Thales Alenia Space, Eutelsat, Hispasat and SES.
The array of up to 170 satellites will secure communications for European Union governments and open new commercial broadband services to under-served areas between 2025 and 2027.
"As things stand, IRIS² runs the risk of being outdated before it even launches," former French air force chief Denis Mercier and ex-Airbus executive Marc Fontaine wrote in a sponsored opinion piece for Politico last week.
Both are involved with German defence AI start-up Helsing, which specialises in offering onboard AI software, with Mercier on its board and Fontaine running its French activity.
When IRIS² was launched, AI was a "somewhat futuristic technology," they wrote. "However, over the past two or three years, the world has learned that AI has matured and is ready for deployment practically everywhere."
The European Commission said it was already acting on this.
"The inclusion of artificial intelligence capabilities in the algorithms running the IRIS² system is a very promising avenue that is currently being considered," a spokesperson said.
Advanced computing is widely deployed on the ground by users such as intelligence agencies to sift and analyse vast amounts of raw data from space or elsewhere, technology analysts say.
But putting AI to work directly inside satellites - known as Edge computing - may allow them to reduce information overload for analysts or adapt themselves to so-called smart jamming.
"We must assume that competitive countries like China have designed this key capability into their constellations — Europe's IRIS² must not launch without it," the paper said.
DEFTECH
Helsing is among a small but growing number of "deftech" firms trying to disrupt the security market in the same way as new players have done in space, with business up for grabs.
The EU has pledged 30% of the EU-funded part of IRIS², which is worth 2.4 billion euros, will be farmed out to small firms.
But the comments have rekindled a debate about whether traditional procurements are nimble enough to embrace the new business models coming into space and now defence.
Under traditional programmes a winning bidder controls the flow of instructions to suppliers, often with long lead times.
Entrepreneurs say the fusion of defence with software and AI requires faster footwork so that flexibility can be built in.
Growing attention to computing in defence was highlighted on Friday when Airbus was reported to be in talks to buy Atos cybersecurity assets.
The Airbus-led consortium declined direct comment on the Helsing article but said IRIS² would "aim to leverage state-of-the-art technology and expertise of companies across Europe".
ESA said that once the main IRIS2 contract is awarded, work would gradually flow to smaller companies.
"This will take some time ... and take place throughout 2024," ESA Director of Navigation Francisco-Javier Benedicto Ruiz said.
($1 = 0.9163 euros)
(Reporting by Tim Hepher; Editing by Alexander Smith)
Days after announcing a deal with SpaceX, Amazon seeks to dismiss lawsuit claiming it snubbed the Elon Musk space company last year
Steve Mollman
Thu, December 14, 2023
With space launches, timing matters. Elon Musk’s SpaceX routinely delays rocket launches when adverse weather develops, for example, and the optimal time for a trip to Mars is when the Red Planet is closest to Earth, or about every two years.
In other notable timing in the space business, Amazon on Monday sought the dismissal of an investor lawsuit involving the launch of internet satellites for its Project Kuiper, which will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink in providing broadband connections globally, including in remote areas. Amazon sought the dismissal just 10 days after announcing a deal for SpaceX to carry some of its satellites.
Last year, Amazon announced agreements for up to 83 launches to carry its Kuiper satellites. Notably, not one of them involved SpaceX, despite it being a clear leader in the field. Instead, the contracts all went to Blue Origin, Europe’s Arianespace, and United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The investor lawsuit—filed in Delaware in August by the multiemployer Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund—alleges there was a “glaring conflict of interest” due to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s proximity to both Amazon and Blue Origin. The damages requested were unspecified.
‘Bezos’s personal rivalry with Musk’
To understand the conflict-of-interest allegation, it helps to know that Bezos is executive chairman of Amazon—though he retired as CEO in 2021—and is also the primary owner of Blue Origin. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon’s leadership, including current CEO Andy Jassy, “excluded the most obvious and affordable launch provider, SpaceX, from its procurement process because of Bezos’s personal rivalry with Musk."
It also states: “Amazon’s directors and officers consciously and intentionally breached their most basic fiduciary responsibilities by approving a series of related-party contracts that are due to collectively funnel more than [redacted amount] to a company founded and owned by [Bezos], following no effort to properly discharge their fiduciary duties.”
After investors filed the lawsuit in August, Amazon announced on Dec. 1 that it had signed a contract with SpaceX for three launches of Project Kuiper satellites. That was notable both in light of the lawsuit and because Amazon would be paying SpaceX to send up satellites to compete against it.
In its announcement, Amazon put the SpaceX deal in context, writing:
“Our earlier procurement of 77 heavy-lift rockets from Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) provides enough capacity to launch the majority of our satellite constellation, and the additional launches with SpaceX offer even more capacity to support our deployment schedule.”
While the deal with SpaceX would seem to ding the investor lawsuit—Amazon ultimately procured business with Musk’s space company, after all—Amazon denied that it was done in response to the litigation.
“The claims in the shareholder lawsuit had no impact on our procurement plans for Project Kuiper, including our recently disclosed launch agreement with SpaceX,” an Amazon spokesperson told Fortune. “The claims in that suit are completely without merit, and we look forward to showing that through the legal process.”
It’s also worth noting that launch procurement discussions can unfold over many months or years.
‘You have been judged’
But the timing of the SpaceX deal just a few months after the lawsuit is striking, and there’s no denying that Musk and Bezos have been trading barbs in the space business for years.
When Blue Origin lost a legal fight against NASA in 2021 over the space agency giving a multibillion-dollar moon lander contract to SpaceX, for example, Musk rubbed it in by tweeting, “You have been judged,” along with a photo from the dystopian sci-fi flick Judge Dredd.
However the lawsuit shakes out, Starlink and Kuiper will compete for customers in the future. For now, SpaceX has a big head start. Amazon plans to launch over 3,000 satellites into low earth orbit. SpaceX has more than 5,000 in operation already, and its broadband service is becoming increasingly available—the popular retailer Costco recently began selling its receivers, for instance.
Amazon is making notable progress, but has a long way to go. After launching two prototype satellites in October, it announced this week that it had successfully used lasers to beam data between them, noting that eventually all its satellites will use the technology to create mesh network connectivity, allowing for greater reliability and faster internet speeds.
But here, too, Musk is well ahead of Bezos and company. He explained the advantages of such lasers in a July 2021 Twitter post, and his Starlink service announced in late September that it now has “more than 8,000 space lasers across the constellation.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
Amazon’s Project Kuiper successfully tests satellite space lasers
Mack DeGeurin
Fri, December 15, 2023
Amazon says "the OISL network enables it to transfer data from one part of the world to another without touching the ground."
SpaceX and its billionaire CEO Elon Musk may finally have a reason to look over their shoulder in the satellite internet race. On Thursday, Amazon revealed it successfully used a space laser technology called “optical inter-satellite link” (OISL) to beam a 100 gigabit per second connection between two of its Project Kuiper satellites stationed 621 miles apart from each other in low Earth orbit. That’s roughly the distance between New York and Cincinnati. Amazon believes that same tech could help it soon deliver fast and reliable broadband internet to some of the most remote regions on Earth.
Typically, LEO satellites send data between antennas at the customer's location and ground gateways that connect back to the internet. An OISL eliminates the need for that immediate data downlink to the ground, which can increase internet speed and reduce latency, particularly for end-users in remote areas. The ability to communicate directly between satellites means that, in practical terms, OISLs could bring strong internet connections to cruisers in the ocean or offshore oil rigs many miles away from land.
“With optical inter-satellite links across our satellite constellation, Project Kuiper will effectively operate as a mesh network in space,” Project Kuiper Vice President of Technology Rajeev Badyal said in a statement.
https://youtu.be/ZsUDWXI5KbM
“Mesh networks” generally refer to a group of connected devices that work side-by-side to form a single network. In a press release, Amazon says it plans to outfit its satellites with multiple optical terminals so several of them can connect with each other simultaneously. In theory, that should establish “high-speed laser cross links” that form the basis for a fast mesh network in space. Amazon expects this space-based mesh network should be capable of transferring data around 30% faster than terrestrial fiber optic cables sending data across roughly the same distance. How that actually plays out in practice for everyday users still remains to be seen since Project Kuiper’s services aren’t currently available to consumers.
Amazon launched its first two satellites into orbit in October and carried out the OISL tests in November. The two satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, were reportedly able to send and receive data at speeds of roughly 100 gigabits per second for an hour-long test window. The satellites had to maintain that link while moving at up to 15,534 miles per hour.
Kuiper Government Solution Vice President Ricky Freeman said the network’s ability to provide “multiple paths to route through space” could be particularly appealing to customers “looking to avoid communications architecture that can be intercepted or jammed.”
When asked by PopSci if the potential customer described here is a military or defense contractor, an Amazon spokesperson said Project Kuiper is focused “first and foremost” on providing internet coverage to residential customers in remote and underserved communities. The spokesperson went on to say it may approach government partners in the future as well.
“We are committed to working with public and private sector partners that share our commitment to bridging the digital divide,” the spokesperson said. “We’re building a flexible, multi-purpose communications network to serve a variety of customers that will include space and government agencies, mobile operators, and emergency and disaster relief operations.”
Project Kuiper slowly moving out of the shadows
Project Kuiper launched in 2019 with a goal of creating a constellation of 3,236 satellites floating in low-Earth- orbit. Once completed, Amazon believes the constellation could provide fast and affordable broadband internet previously underserved regions around the globe. But the project has taken its sweet time to actually lift off. After more than four years, the company finally launched its first satellites into orbit in October. As of this month the company had reportedly ordered just 94 rocket launches according to CNBC.
SpaceX, Project Kuiper’s biggest rival, already has a huge head start. The company has reportedly launched more than 5,000 Starlink satellites into space and currently offers its satellite internet service to paying customers. In a surprise twist, Amazon recently struck a deal with its rival where it will use SpaceX rockets to quickly launch more Kuiper satellites into orbit
The new laser tests prove Amazon’s Project Kuiper is indeed much more than a wishful multi-billion dollar side quest. Whether or not it can ramp up satellite deployments in time to catch up with SpaceX, however, remains to be seen.
Jeff Bezos says humans will live in massive space stations before settling on other planets, once again veering away from Elon Musk's Mars ambitions
Lloyd Lee
Thu, December 14, 2023
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk both have ambitions of space colonization.
But the billionaires disagree on how exactly that future will play out.
Bezos said in an interview that "planetary surfaces" are too small for mass human colonization.
Jeff Bezos said in a recent interview that he hopes for a distant future in which "a trillion" humans will inhabit the solar system, but the only way to get there is with massive space stations.
The Amazon and Blue Origin founder said on the Lex Fridman podcast published Thursday that a trillion humans would mean there could be a "thousand Mozarts and a thousand Einsteins" at any given point — a vision he previously shared in a 2018 interview with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company Axel Springer.
Our solar system has enough resources to support a civilization that large, Bezos said, but people won't be inhabiting other planets.
"The only way to get to that vision is with giant space stations, he said. "The planetary surfaces are just way too small unless you turn them into giant space stations."
Bezos said that humans will take resources from planets or the moon to support life on space colonies that resemble cylindrical space stations envisioned by the late physicist Gerard Kitchen O'Neill.
"They have a lot of advantages over planetary surfaces. You can spin them to get normal earth gravity. You can put them where you want them," he said of O'Neill-style colonies, adding that most people are going to want to live near Earth anyway.
Bezos's space colony agenda is notable in that it differs from his main competitor, SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Bezos doesn't explicitly mention Musk in his answer to Fridman, but the two billionaires have butted heads in the past over what the future of space colonization will look like.
Musk has repeatedly spoken about his ambitions to colonize Mars, claiming that he wants to start building human settlements as soon as 2050.
SpaceX also has plans to help NASA send humans to the moon for the first time in 1972, but its colonization goals are mostly focused on Mars.
Bezos on the other hand has set his target on the moon, unveiling the giant Blue Moon lunar lander concept in 2019 that will help humans get there. He also has previously spoken about O'Neill-style space cylinders that can maintain a good climate all year long.
As the two battle over colonization, Musk apparently longs for a competitive space race, saying that he wished Bezos "would get out of his hot tub and yacht" and focus more on Blue Origin, according to his biographer Walter Isaacson.
Spokespersons for Blue Origin and SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment sent outside of working hours.
Experts previously told Business Insider about the scientific and ethical dilemmas that lie in both billionaires' grandiose plans of space colonization, including the problems with gravity and space's impact on the human immune system. But that doesn't mean their efforts are worthless.
"As a species, we've got to do this. We're going to crucify this planet sooner or later. So you might as well die going to Mars," Kevin Moffat, an associate professor at the University of Warwick who specializes in human physiology, told BI.
Bezos told Fridman that, in the future, humans will be able to choose to go back and forth between space stations and Earth, and that space colonization is ultimately a means to preserve the planet.
"We've sent robotic probes to all the planets," he said. "We know that this is the good one."
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