GoKawiilStarlink operator SpaceX claims that Amazon violated orbital debris requirements by launching satellites into initial altitudes that are too high, increasing the risk of collision with other satellites and spacecraft. SpaceX, which recently reported two Starlink satellite failures that created new space debris, yesterday accused Amazon and its launch partner Arianespace of negligence that “needlessly and significantly increases risk to other operational systems and inhabited spacecraft.”
Amazon Leo, formerly known as Kuiper Systems, is launching satellites into low-Earth orbits (LEO) to compete against Starlink’s much larger constellation of broadband satellites. Amazon denied that its launch altitudes violate any requirements or impose a safety risk and said SpaceX itself helped Amazon launch satellites into a similar altitude last year when Amazon used SpaceX as a launch partner.
SpaceX only objected to the launch parameters after moving its Starlink satellites into nearby altitudes, Amazon said. Changing the altitude of a recent Leo launch would have delayed it by months, according to Amazon. Both Amazon and SpaceX have accused each other of using FCC proceedings to delay the other’s satellite launches at various times over the years.
Amazon also said it informed the FCC of the launch altitudes that SpaceX now objects to. SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk have a friend at the top of the FCC, though, as Chairman Brendan Carr recently slammed Amazon’s petition to deny a SpaceX request to launch up to 1 million satellites.
SpaceX’s letter to the Federal Communications Commission yesterday alleged that “Amazon is continuing to violate its approved orbital debris mitigation plan and the express conditions in its license—dispensing satellites 50-90 km higher than authorized and without adequate coordination or information sharing.”
SpaceX alleges “unmitigable collision risks”
Amazon told the FCC in a 2021 application that “Kuiper Satellites will be launched into an initial deployment orbit at or near 400 km” before being raised to orbital altitudes between 590 km and 630 km. “After injection at or near 400 km and successful checkout, each Kuiper Satellite will initiate collision avoidance procedures that will continue throughout on-orbit operations,” Amazon told the FCC in the filing that SpaceX cited in yesterday’s letter.