Amazon Urges FCC to Reject SpaceX's Million-Satellite Datacenter Plan as 'Speculative'

Amazon's satellite division Leo is urging US regulators to reject SpaceX's ambitious proposal for a million-satellite orbital datacenter constellation, calling the plan incomplete and unrealistic while raising concerns about interference and environmental impact.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently opened public comments on SpaceX's application to launch a constellation of up to one million satellites in low Earth orbit. This would represent a dramatic expansion from the approximately 15,000 satellites currently circling the planet. SpaceX's proposal envisions these satellites functioning as spaceborne datacenters, potentially marking humanity's first steps toward becoming a Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale - a theoretical classification for civilizations capable of harnessing the entire energy output of their home star.

In a filing dated March 6, Amazon Leo contends that SpaceX's application provides only the barest outline of how it will deliver on these "grand claims." The company argues the proposal lacks essential details including satellite design specifications, radio frequency characteristics, and "any plan for managing conjunctions or interference at million-satellite scale."

Amazon characterizes the application as describing "a lofty ambition rather than a real plan," deriding it as a "speculative placeholder rather than a complete application under the Commission's rules." The filing suggests that SpaceX is seeking authorization for "an orbital monopoly that will make it the gatekeeper to space," revealing what appears to be the underlying competitive concern.

Beyond technical criticisms, Amazon raises environmental objections to pollution from rocket launches and satellites burning up as their orbits decay. However, these concerns appear somewhat ironic given that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos himself predicted at an event last year that gigawatt-scale datacenters powered by solar energy "will fill Earth's orbit within two decades."

The company is asking the FCC to deny the application as "facially incomplete" - an unusual legal term suggesting the proposal is so fundamentally flawed it cannot be considered on its merits. Should regulators choose to treat it as a serious proposal, Amazon urges them to "fully grapple" with the issues a deployment of this magnitude would raise and to demand concrete technical details from SpaceX.

SpaceX has not yet responded to requests for comment on Amazon's filing. The company's proposal comes as both Amazon and SpaceX are already operating competing satellite internet services - Amazon's Project Kuiper (now operating as Amazon Leo) has more than 200 satellites in orbit, while SpaceX's Starlink boasts over 9,900.

The debate highlights growing tensions in the commercial space industry as companies race to establish dominance in orbital infrastructure. Analyst firm Gartner recently dismissed the concept of space-based datacenters as "peak insanity," arguing that running spaceborne facilities would be uneconomical and could never satisfy terrestrial demand for compute power.

This regulatory challenge represents another chapter in the ongoing rivalry between Amazon and SpaceX, two companies that have frequently clashed over contracts, launch capabilities, and now orbital real estate. As the FCC considers these competing visions for space-based computing, the outcome could significantly shape the future of both satellite communications and extraterrestrial datacenter development.