FCC chair slams Amazon for opposing SpaceX data center launch plan
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr testified at the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing titled “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission,” held at the Rayburn building on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr reacted harshly Amazon He was sued Wednesday for opposing SpaceX’s plans for an orbital data center and failing to meet its own satellite “deployment milestone.”
“Instead of spending its time and resources filing petitions against companies that have put thousands of satellites into orbit, Amazon should focus on the fact that approximately 1,000 satellites will not meet the upcoming deployment milestone,” Carr wrote. a post on x.
Amazon declined to comment.
Amazon last week urged the FCC to deny the request. SpaceX app For permission to launch a constellation of up to 1 million low-Earth orbit satellites that would function as a network of data centers in space to support artificial intelligence projects.
Amazon called the implementation “more of a lofty goal than an actual plan” and noted that SpaceX provided little detail on how it would “meet these big claims.”
SpaceX’s Starlink service currently dominates the space internet market. Amazon is racing to compete with Starlink through its Leo satellite service, which was previously branded as Kuiper. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the effort and has launched at least 200 satellites since last April through various launch partners, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
In late January, Amazon asked the FCC for a waiver, or 24-month extension, through July 2028 to meet a deadline requiring it to deploy about 1,600 internet satellites by July 2026. At the time, the company blamed delays beyond its control, including a “lack of near-term availability” and production disruptions of the rockets.
Amazon noted in its request that the FCC has granted similar extensions before. The FCC last month approved a separate petition from Amazon seeking the deployment of 4,500 internet satellites; this would be more than twice the size of its constellation.
Starlink has approximately 9,000 satellites in orbit today and approximately 9 million customers. It recently received authorization from the FCC to put 7,500 more satellites into orbit.
scientists They rejected SpaceX’s launch offer a million satellites It was placed in orbit addressing a wide range of issues, including light pollution, orbital debris, and other damage to the broader orbital environment, as well as an increased risk of “Kessler syndrome”, a scenario in which debris and clutter in space could cause a chain reaction that renders low Earth orbit unusable.
Amazon noted those concerns from astronomers and environmental groups in its petition and said SpaceX’s application “risks worsening international backlash” from regulators concerned about the monopolization of space resources.
“Accepting the application would make the situation worse, force all other operators in Low Earth Orbit to plan around a constellation that may never exist, distort international spectrum and orbital coordination operations, and lend regulatory legitimacy to what amounts to a publicity and narrative-shaping exercise,” Amazon wrote in its request to the FCC.
The FCC has not yet approved SpaceX’s request but made separate statements: Reuters On Wednesday, Carr said he didn’t expect Amazon’s petition to “get a lot of attention.”
Carr has long been a public admirer of SpaceX and has mocked the environmental concerns of those who call out Musk’s company over launches that damage public lands and endanger species habitats.
Room accused The FCC, under former President Joe Biden, filed charges of “regulatory harassment” against SpaceX. to create The company’s Starlink WiFi service was not suitable to meet the programmatic needs of the rural broadband initiative at the time.
