Elon Musk ‘sees rules as for other people’, blasts Jeff Bezos firm
The rivalry between the reputed two richest men, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, is out of this world as they compete to send rockets to Mars and beyond.
They are the two richest men on the planet with equal ambitions to send rockets to Mars and beyond, but it appears that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are anything but friends.
Amazon has sent a blistering eight-page letter to US regulators arguing that Mr Musk and his companies see rules as “for other people” and will use social media to “vilify and intimidate” anyone who “dares point out its flouting” of laws and regulations.
It is the latest development in an escalating row between Amazon and SpaceX, Mr Musk’s space rocket company, over the companies’ competing plans to launch a network of satellites that can beam down signals to provide high-speed internet access.
In addition, Mr Bezos’s rocket company Blue Origin is suing NASA over its decision to let SpaceX build a spacecraft to land on the Moon.
In the letter to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Kuiper Systems, the satellite subsidiary of Amazon, said: “Whether it is launching satellites with unlicensed antennas, launching rockets without approval, building an unapproved launch tower, or reopening a factory in violation of a shelter-in-place order, the conduct of SpaceX and other Musk-led companies makes their view plain: rules are for other people.”
SpaceX quickly responded in kind, sending its own letter to the FCC saying: “Another week, another objection from Amazon against a competitor, yet still no sign of progress on Amazon’s own long-rumoured satellite system.”
Amazon’s Kuiper plans to launch 3236 satellites, though none have been sent up yet, while SpaceX has put 1740 satellites into orbit already and plans to launch 30,000 in total.
The two companies want to set up a network of satellites that can provide high-speed internet access to areas left behind by traditional cable-based providers, such as remote or rural locations.
Selling this service to the 3.5 billion people around the world still lacking basic internet access would prove extremely lucrative.
SpaceX filed a request to modify its FCC licence to add another 30,000 satellites in two configurations, with some being launched on its Starship rocket and other flown on the Falcon 9. Amazon argues that under the FCC regulations, SpaceX must present a single design for its system.
Mr Musk has joked on Twitter that Mr Bezos, who recently stepped down as Amazon’s chief executive, “retired in order to pursue a full-time job filing lawsuits against SpaceX”.
After Blue Origin filed a lengthy protest in April over NASA’s decision to award dollars 2.9 billion to Mr Musk’s SpaceX team to build the rocket that will return astronauts to the moon by 2024, Mr Musk sent a crude tweet in response, saying Bezos “can’t get it up (to orbit) lol”.
Both Mr Bezos and Mr Musk have ambitious plans for space exploration alongside their satellite projects.
Mr Musk has said he wants to send humans to Mars by the mid-2020s, before building a “thriving city and eventually a self-sustaining civilisation”.
The Times
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