Bezos' Blue Origin Poaches Top Talent from Rival Satellite Venture
Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin has poached at least 47 engineers from Amazon's satellite venture, Leo. The engineers were hired over the past year to work on TeraWave, Blue Origin's emerging satellite communications initiative.
TeraWave is a constellation of thousands of satellites designed to serve businesses and governments with substantial data needs. It positions the network as a competitor not only to SpaceX's Starlink but also to Amazon's own Leo satellite service.
Amazon Leo aims to begin selling broadband internet service to customers by the end of this year, while TeraWave is targeting a smaller set of business and government customers seeking large volumes of data transfer. The network calls for more than 5,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, supplemented by an additional layer of satellites in medium orbit.
Blue Origin's hiring of former Amazon Leo employees has raised questions about the timing given Amazon's substantial financial commitments to its Leo satellite business. However, there is no indication that Blue Origin's hiring involves any legal violation.