Amazon Taps SpaceX For Satellite Launch Despite Jeff Bezos' Rocket Company: Elon Musk Says It Will Be 'Fair And Square'

Billionaire CEO Elon Musk on Friday said that his rocket manufacturing company SpaceX launched the satellite systems of its rivals without favoring their own.

The CEO took to X to clarify the same after SpaceX entered into a contract to launch Amazon.com Inc‘s AMZN Kuiper satellites, aimed at providing satellite internet along the lines of SpaceX’s Starlink.

What Happened: Under the newly announced contract, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch thrice to deliver Kuiper satellites to low-Earth orbit starting mid-2025. Project Kuiper is a project by the e-commerce giant aimed at providing broadband with the help of a network of satellites in low-Earth orbit like Starlink.

Responding to the news on X, Musk said that SpaceX launches competitor satellites “fair and square.”

Updates On Kuiper: Early in October, Amazon launched its inaugural satellites for Project Kuiper. The two prototype satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, were propelled into space by an Atlas V rocket operated by United Launch Alliance. 

Amazon is now preparing for satellite manufacturing ahead of full-scale deployment in the first half of 2024. After deploying sufficient satellites, customer pilot will start in the second half of the year, the company said in a statement.

In addition to SpaceX, Amazon has also acquired launches from Arianespace, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin. Blue Origin is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos‘ own rocket making company.

Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit earlier this week, Musk touched upon Bezos’ attempts to send rockets to space and said, "I hope he does." The Tesla CEO added that he agreed with many of the rival billionaire's motivations and is glad he chose to invest in rockets.

"Let me put it this way, if there was a button I could press that would delete Blue Origin, I wouldn't press it," Musk said.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Jim Farley Celebrates Record Sales For Ford’s F-150 Lightning As Tesla’s Cybertruck Hits The Road

Image Credits – Shutterstock