FCC Chairman Brendan Carr testifies during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology entitled “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission” on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, in the Rayburn Building.
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Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr condemned this. Amazon on Wednesday for opposing SpaceX’s plans for an in-orbit data center even though the company had not yet reached a “deployment milestone” for its satellites.
In a post on
Amazon declined to comment.
Last week, Amazon asked the FCC to deny SpaceX’s request for permission to launch a constellation of up to 1 million low-orbit satellites that would serve as a network of data centers in space to support artificial intelligence projects.
Amazon characterized the filing as “lofty ambitions rather than realistic plans,” and noted that SpaceX provided few details about how it would “realize these grand claims.”
SpaceX’s Starlink service currently dominates the internet-from-space market. Amazon has competed with Starlink through its Leo satellite service, formerly branded Kuiper. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the effort and launched at least 200 satellites since last April through a variety of launch partners, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
In late January, Amazon asked the FCC for a waiver or a 24-month extension to July 2028 to meet its deadline to deploy about 1,600 internet satellites by July 2026. At the time, the company blamed delays beyond its control, including a “short-term lack of availability” of the rocket and manufacturing disruptions.
Amazon noted in its request that the FCC has previously granted similar extensions. Last month, the FCC approved another petition from Amazon to deploy 4,500 internet satellites, more than doubling the size of its constellation.
Starlink currently operates approximately 9,000 satellites in orbit and serves approximately 9 million customers. It recently received permission from the FCC to put 7,500 more satellites into orbit.
Scientists have criticized SpaceX’s proposal to send 1 million satellites into orbit, citing a wide range of problems, including light pollution, orbital debris and other harm to the broader orbital environment, as well as an increased risk of Kessler Syndrome, a scenario in which space debris and clutter sets off a chain reaction that makes low-Earth orbit unusable.
Amazon cited such concerns from astronomers and environmental groups in its petition, saying SpaceX’s application “risks exacerbating international backlash” from regulators concerned about monopolizing space resources.
“Granting the application would make matters worse, forcing all other operators in low Earth orbit to plan around a constellation that may never exist, distorting international spectrum and orbit coordination procedures, and giving regulatory legitimacy to activities that amount to advertising and narrative shaping,” Amazon wrote in its request to the FCC.
The FCC has not yet approved SpaceX’s request, but Carr said in separate remarks to Reuters on Wednesday that he did not expect Amazon’s petition to “gain significant traction.”
Mr. Kerr has long been a public fan of SpaceX and has ridiculed the environmental concerns of those who criticize Mr. Musk’s company for its launches that damage public lands and the habitat of endangered species.
He also accused the FCC, under former President Joe Biden’s administration, of “regulatory harassment” against SpaceX when it determined that SpaceX’s Starlink WiFi service was not suitable to meet the programmatic needs of rural broadband plans at the time.
