SpaceX and Blue Origin Pursue Satellite and Lunar Infrastructure

SpaceX and Blue Origin are advancing competing space infrastructure plans, from satellite networks to lunar systems, as NASA assigns both companies roles in upcoming lander tests.

SpaceX filed for authority on Jan. 30 to deploy an orbital data-center system of up to 1 million satellites. A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) notice issued Feb. 4 described proposed operating altitudes from 500 to 2,000 kilometers and requested public comment. The filing is an application, not an authorization.

SpaceX has an operating satellite network in Starlink, which had more than 11,000 satellites in low Earth orbit as of Oct. 6. The company delivered 2,213 metric tons of payload to orbit in 2025: 1,901 metric tons for internal use and 312 metric tons for customers. That amounted to more than 80% of global payload mass delivered to orbit; the figure measures mass, not launches or objects.

Blue Origin announced TeraWave on Jan. 21, 2026. The planned network has 5,280 satellites in low Earth orbit and 128 in medium Earth orbit, with deployment scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2027. It is designed to provide up to 6 terabits per second through optical links.

Blue Origin is also developing Blue Alchemist, a system designed to turn lunar soil into solar arrays, metals and oxygen. “Each kilogram of oxygen we make on the lunar surface is one less that we have to launch from Earth,” said Pat Remias, the company’s vice president for Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering. The system remains a development effort, with an autonomous demonstration in a simulated lunar environment planned as its next phase for 2026.

NASA has assigned SpaceX’s lander to Artemis III and IV and Blue Origin’s lander to Artemis V. NASA’s July 2026 schedule calls for both companies to fly lander test articles during an Artemis III demonstration in 2027, ahead of a crewed lunar landing targeted for 2028. Lander-development challenges are expected to delay planned Artemis launch dates.