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Amazon Leo undercuts Starlink's price
Amazon Leo, formerly called Project Kuiper, comes in three tiers. Leo Nano is the ultra-portable unit: 7 inches, about a pound, and 100 megabits per second, enough for smart IoT devices and basic broadband.
Leo Pro is the residential tier, 11 inches across, at $400. Starlink usually comes in around $500, though it varies by location. Leo Ultra is built for heavy users such as enterprises and aviation, and it launches in the US, UK, France, Germany, and Canada later this year.
Amazon's constellation is far smaller than SpaceX's. Starlink has about 10,000 satellites after a decade of work, and Amazon Leo has close to 400. The project is an $82 billion bet.
Why do low orbits beat geostationary for internet?
Geostationary satellites hover at 35,786 kilometers, so a signal takes roughly half a second or more to go up, down, and back. Low-Earth-orbit satellites fly below 2,000 kilometers, which cuts the round-trip delay to tens of milliseconds. They also move fast, at about 7.5 kilometers per second, and circle the planet roughly every 90 minutes.
Why does a constellation need thousands of satellites?
A low satellite sees only a footprint a few hundred kilometers across and sweeps past any given spot within minutes. Continuous coverage requires another satellite to arrive as the previous one leaves. Covering the whole planet with overlapping footprints takes hundreds of satellites at minimum, and thousands add capacity. The Iridium voice network, which orbits at about 780 kilometers, uses 66 active satellites.
How can a flat dish follow moving satellites?
Many modern satellite terminals use a phased-array antenna made of many small elements. Adjusting the timing of the signal at each element steers the beam electronically, with no motors needed. The beam can be pointed at a different satellite within moments. Phased arrays were first used in military radar.
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