Blue Origin has decided rockets are not enough and is now punting a satellite internet network called TeraWave, promising data speeds up to 6 Tbps for enterprise, data centre and government buyers.
The constellation is meant to blend 5,280 satellites in low-Earth orbit with 128 in medium-Earth orbit, with first launches pencilled in for late 2027. Blue Origin has not said how long the full build-out will take, which is usually where the real pain lives.
The low-Earth-orbit birds are set to use RF links and top out at 144 Gbps, while the medium-Earth-orbit batch uses optical links aimed at that headline 6 Tbps figure. For those not in the know, SpaceX’s Starlink currently tops out at 400 Mbps, though it is talking up upgraded satellites that will hit 1 Gbps.
“TeraWave adds a space-based layer to your existing network infrastructure, providing connectivity to locations unreachable by traditional methods,” the network’s website says.
The timing is awkwardly cosy with Bezos’ other satellite ambitions, since Amazon recently rebranded its consumer-focused constellation. That network, called Leo, is meant to deploy around 3,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites and deliver more typical broadband speeds.
Put together, you can see the shape of an attempt to lean on Starlink from two directions, since SpaceX has built a lead with more than nine million customers. Starlink also sells to consumers, as well as commercial outfits like airlines and governments, which is exactly the turf TeraWave is eyeing.
Blue Origin insisted it is going after a specific gap rather than chasing shiny numbers for the sake of it.
“We identified an unmet need with customers who were seeking enterprise-grade internet access with higher speeds, symmetrical upload/download speeds, more redundancy, and rapid scalability for their networks. TeraWave solves for these problems,” Blue Origin said in a statement to TechCrunch.
This is another hat for a company best known for short tourist hops on New Shepard, but it has been trying to grow up fast. In 2025, it launched its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket for the first time, then did it again months later, and even stuck a booster landing on its second attempt.
It also flew its first commercial payload for NASA and now says it wants to send a robotic lander to the moon on the third New Glenn launch this year. With TeraWave in the mix, Blue Origin is now angling to add “satellite manufacturer and operator” to the list, and it is clearly not planning to stop there.
