Blue Origin has announced the creation of the TeraWave global satellite communications network. It will provide symmetrical data transfer speeds of up to 6 Tbit/s anywhere on Earth.
The TeraWave network will consist of 5,280 satellites in low Earth orbit and 128 satellites in medium Earth orbit. It will use a combination of radio frequency and optical channels to support point-to-point connections and global routing with intensive data exchange.
The main advantage of TeraWave is its data transfer speed, which will reach up to 144 Gbps via radio channel and up to 6 Tbps when using laser communication. This is orders of magnitude higher than the data transfer speed of Starlink satellites. However, there is another fundamental difference between the two systems. While Starlink targets mass consumers, TeraWave’s customers will be corporations, enterprises, data centers, and government agencies that require reliable connectivity for critical operations and fast transfer of large amounts of data. The number of TeraWave users will be limited to approximately 100,000 customers worldwide.
“Customers around the world can access up to 144 Gbps of bandwidth through Q/V-band links from LEO satellites, and up to 6 Tbps of bandwidth through optical links from MEO satellites,” said Blue Origin CEO David Limbaugh.
“This provides the reliability and fault tolerance required for real-time operations and mass data transfer. In addition, it provides backup connectivity during outages, allowing critical operations to continue. Plus, the ability to scale on demand and deploy quickly around the world while maintaining performance.”
It is worth noting that TeraWave is not related to the 3,232-satellite Amazon Leo system (formerly known as Kuiper) being deployed by Amazon. It was also founded by Jeff Bezos, but unlike Blue Origin, it is not wholly owned by the billionaire.
TeraWave low-orbit satellites will be placed at altitudes ranging from 520 to 540 kilometers. Medium-orbit satellites will be placed at altitudes ranging from approximately 8,000 kilometers to 24,200 kilometers. Blue Origin plans to begin deploying TeraWave in the last quarter of 2027 if regulatory approval is granted.
According to Blue Origin
