Blue Origin Launches TeraWave as Space Pick Up Steam Data Centers

Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, recently entered the booming satellite internet business. This week, it announced TeraWave, a megaconstellation project that promises to deliver data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second (Tbps) anywhere on Earth—technology that could also lay the foundation for future data centers in space. The move is a strategic tie-in to another Bezos-backed effort, Amazon’s Low-Earth-orbit broadband network Leo (formerly known as Project Kuiper), in a market currently dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink.

Clusters like these transmit data between Earth and orbiting satellites without wires or cell towers, extending Internet access to remote and underserved areas. SpaceX’s Starlink currently operates about 9,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit and brings high-speed Internet to more than 150 countries. Blue Origin also faces growing international competition: China is developing two rival megaconstellations, Guowang and Qianfan, which together are expected to include more than 13,000 satellites.

Unlike Starlink and Leo, however, TeraWave isn’t aimed at families. Instead, the network will serve “tens of thousands” of businesses, government agencies and, most importantly, data centers, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp told X.

That strategy reflects the growing importance of data centers in the age of AI. These facilities, which store and process large volumes of text, images and other data, are straining the world’s power grids as the use of AI explodes. Space has begun to look like an unusual solution to that energy shortage. Several aerospace and technology companies are exploring the idea of ​​putting data centers in orbit, where they can draw on the sun’s near-limitless energy and emit heat directly into space.

Last November, Limp told Yahoo Finance that space-based data centers are “definitely going to happen” in our lifetime. Google, SpaceX and smaller firms like Axiom Space and Starcloud have already announced early plans to build or test orbital data storage and computing systems. Space is attractive not only in terms of access to energy but also because of its low environmental impact and relative ease of scale compared to building new land areas.

TeraWave joins a growing list of ambitious Blue Origin projects, including two lunar landers, a commercial space station and a Mars orbiter. The company is also making progress on the New Glenn, its long-duration reusable rocket designed to move satellites into low-Earth orbit—including Amazon’s Leo constellation and, potentially, TeraWave itself.

Currently, Amazon Leo is dependent on other startup providers. Since last April, the project has sent 180 satellites into orbit using rockets from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX. Under existing agreements, Blue Origin is expected to host between 12 and 27 future Leo launches as part of an effort to build a network of nearly 3,200 satellites. Those flights depend on the reliability of the New Glenn, which is in the testing phase.

Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, long ago said that this company could end up overshadowing Amazon. “I think it’s going to be the best business I’ve ever been involved in, but it’s going to take a while,” he said in 2024.

Blue Origin plans to begin operating TeraWave satellites in the fourth quarter of 2027. The constellation will contain 5,408 optically connected satellites, most of them operating in low-Earth orbit, forming a high-speed network designed to serve the next generation of cloud computing and space-based infrastructure.