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Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by tectonic on Sunday February 07, 2021 @01:42PM (#26057033)
Project Kuiper is so far behind Starlink at this point that this kind of regulatory maneuvering is pretty laughable. (As compared to regulating the brightness of LEO satellites, which is very much needed. In this regard, allowing SpaceX to lower the orbit of these satellites is actually good for astronomy. We talk about this stuff pretty frequently in Orbital Index [https://orbitalindex.com].)
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by gamblor956 on Sunday February 07, 2021 @02:03PM (#26057213)
You have it exactly backwards. Starlink is attempting to block competition by moving into orbits not assigned to it but which have been targeted by competitors. Starlink had the option of using the lower orbit when it designed its system, and chose not to even consider that orbit until Kuiper was announced.

Every other company in the space is opposed to this move, because Starlink's unilateral reconfiguration would interfere with nearly every other company's operations. Part of the FCC's mandate is to prevent that from occurring, and SpaceX absolutely deserves to be slapped down for its anticompetitive behavior.

Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by m463 on Sunday February 07, 2021 @05:07PM (#26058683)
Come on, starlink already has 1000 satellites in the lower orbit.
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by ABeeSea on Sunday February 07, 2021 @01:54PM (#26057133)
The head of Kuiper and most of the senior team led Starlink until Musk allegedly fired them for moving too slow and being too cautious. So Amazon being operationally behind isn't exactly surprising.

>Musk had fired at least seven members of the program's senior management team at the Redmond, Washington, office, the culmination of disagreements over the pace at which the team was developing and testing its Starlink satellites, according to the two SpaceX employees with direct knowledge of the situation.

https://www.businessinsider.com/r-musk-shakes-up-spacex-in-r...

Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by ignoramous on Sunday February 07, 2021 @02:02PM (#26057209)
Could also be SpaceX trying to put a different spin on the story? Bezos might have poached them from right under Musk's nose for all we know.
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by NortySpock on Sunday February 07, 2021 @02:14PM (#26057319)
Maybe, but my sense as an outsider was that Starlink was moving at a snail's pace and was essentially PR vaporware prior to these firings. Granted, there's a lot of engineering going on behind the scenes, but the timing is perhaps suggestive...

Look at the timeline:

Jan 2015 -- announce plans

Jan 2017 -- Starlink trademarked

Feb 2018 - test flight of two satellites

May 2019 - Launch 60 of the v0.9 model

June 2019 - fire 7 people

Oct 2019 - this article

Nov 2019 - Launch 60 of the v1.0 model

7 Jan 2020 - 60 satellites launched

29 Jan 2020 - 60 satellites launched

17 Feb 2020 - 60 satellites launched

18 Mar 2020 - 60 satellites launched

22 Apr 2020 - 60 satellites launched

04 Jun 2020 - 60 satellites launched

etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink

Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by qchris on Sunday February 07, 2021 @03:03PM (#26057731)
I know that SpaceX has historically had a abnormally high development and deployment cadence, but I think that your second point about behind-the-scenes development is probably closest to the mark.

To me, it seems more plausible that they were taking a solid-not-polished design that's been mostly worked through for a few years, doing some team re-org and removing people who aren't working out, and then finished tweaking the design and got ready for scaling to higher production over the next few months than it does they were scraping by on the skin of their teeth for almost four years and suddenly managed to catch up on everything (and have it work!) in those same last few months.

It's absolutely possible I'm wrong, but if the Starklink team truly managed a timeline of 6 months from "vaporware" to functionally the world's first mega-constellation, I'd be absolutely floored.

Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by snapcore on Sunday February 07, 2021 @03:03PM (#26057723)
If you just graph the launches that looks like R&D + production ramp-up.
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by m463 on Sunday February 07, 2021 @04:23PM (#26058314)
Where do:

"Amazon representatives have had "30 meetings to oppose SpaceX" but "no meetings to authorize its own system""

... those 30 meetings fit into the timeline? :)

Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by lr1970 on Sunday February 07, 2021 @06:10PM (#26059098)
> Oct 2019 - this article

The article was published on Oct 31, 2018 (not 2019).

Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by brianwawok on Sunday February 07, 2021 @01:56PM (#26057156)
Gotta move at Musk speed, makes sense.
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by meibo on Sunday February 07, 2021 @03:05PM (#26057752)
If anything, it seems to work out for him at SpaceX.

Speed and latency measured with the Starlink beta/GA are unparalleled at the moment, yet to see if they worsen with an increase of userbase.

Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by brianwawok on Sunday February 07, 2021 @06:45PM (#26059305)
And at Tesla. Unclear why my statement was controversial but hey...
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by gnzoidberg on Sunday February 07, 2021 @08:05PM (#26059695)
Amazon is not Blue Origin. The amount of ignorance in these threads is baffling.
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by tectonic on Monday February 08, 2021 @01:05PM (#26067887)
Where did I say that it was?
Re:Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request by cozzyd on Sunday February 07, 2021 @03:34PM (#26057968)
I'm sure Starlink could try to purchase the regulatory allotments from Kuiper/Kepler/etc. if they so wanted.