A Quilty Space Insight: How Amazon Kuiper is Gearing up to Break the Bandwidth Bottleneck

After declaring 100% success of all priority systems and subsystems aboard Project Kuiper’s first two prototypes launched Oct. 6, Amazon just dropped the mic.

On Dec. 14, the Starlink rival announced that KuiperSat-1 & 2 had successfully completed and maintained optical communication links of 100Gbps between the two spacecraft over a distance of 1,000km for the entire test window of at least an hour. The outcome of these trials greenlights Amazon’s ability to scale the production of Optical Communications Terminals (OCTs) for its entire 3,236-satellite fleet. This makes Kuiper the first optically connected constellation right out of the gate. Not even OneWeb or Starlink can make this claim.

Explain it to me like I’m five

Free-space optical communications, lasercoms, or space lasers are the backbone of all future space architecture. Why? There are several reasons. The first -- without getting too mathy -- is that optical wavelengths are much shorter (measured in nanometers versus centimeters | millimeters), enabling data transmission rates that are orders of magnitude greater than traditional RF systems while requiring less transmission power. 

Optical intersatellite links (OISLs) also reduce the ground infrastructure needed for constellations, as data is passed like a baton from satellite to satellite over areas that might not have ground stations (e.g., oceans). This is critical for providing full global service and traffic optimization. For LEO mega-constellations to reach their full potential, OISLs are not just on the holiday wishlist – they are a must-have.

Unlike RF, optical is cowboy spectrum – unregulated. So, Kuiper satellites can laser-link data throughout their entire interconnected network without needing ITU spectrum licensing or regulatory approvals until the point at which the data gets sent to the ground via RF links (optical space-to-ground exists but is rare because optical beams are impacted by clouds, fog, smoke, etc. in the atmosphere).

Ground stations can also be bypassed entirely, reducing latency and improving security. And because of their tighter, narrower beam, optical comms are almost completely immune from signal intercept and jamming. That’s why defense constellations, including the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) PWSA, are now designed with OCTs.

In fact, the SDA has implemented interoperability standards for all OCT vendors to uphold. An Amazon representative clarified in an email to our team this week that Kuiper’s OCTs are not currently SDA-compliant. This underscores how Kuiper, like Starlink, is less focused on interoperability with defense satellite networks. At least for now. It’s also not a surprise, considering that completing the required SDA testing at the Naval Research Laboratory would cost Kuiper time it can't afford to spare. But this doesn’t preclude some Kuiper satellites from serving as “translators” for the SDA’s transport layer in the future.

As for how many OCTs will be on each spacecraft and who is manufacturing the Kuiper terminals themselves – we can only confirm that the OCTs are designed in-house and that Amazon has recruited a team of engineers specializing in optical communications. But at the production levels needed to scale in time for a 2024 service start and hit its FCC milestones, there is a non-zero possibility the terminals could be outsourced to a major EMS house, A&D contractor, or OCT vendor.

Big Whoop. Doesn’t Starlink Already Have Space Lasers?

After years of conflicting references to Starlink’s “space lasers,” they have gained a somewhat mythical status at this point. Starlink is still in “testing” per its own web page and has provided no evidence that its OCTs are fully operational. This despite ongoing mentions of testing that stretch as far back as 2020, announcements of “first” laser deployments in 2021, promises of lasers becoming “operational by the end of the year” (in 2022), and reveals of next-generation lasers as recently as September.

The reality is that we have scant documentation of successful LEO-to-LEO intersatellite links consistently working at all in the wild.

Other than the NFIRE-to-TerraSAR-X demo in 2008 that transferred just 5.626Gbps between satellites, the only other publicly disclosed on-orbit OCT validation we have is the quietly shuttered DARPA Project Blackjack initiative that in 2022 marked the successful closing and maintaining of an optical communications link between two satellites at a range of 114 km with 280Gb of total data transferred during a 40-minute test. After launching another four “Blackjack-Aces” in June 2023, DARPA canceled the previously planned 20-satellite constellation, and is yet to share details about the current Blackjacks’ CACI-equipped OCT on-orbit performance. Likewise, we are still awaiting the test results of the SDA’s Tranche 0 Transport satellites that launched in April and September and are outfitted with TESAT OCTs.

Why is a decades-old tech still fumbling around to establish a reliable space footing? Try telling a squirmy toddler to stay still for a photo. Only the toddler is 1,000km away and moving at about 28,000km per hour.

While you are moving, too.

Christmas may have come early this year for Amazon Kuiper with this groundbreaking achievement of linking two satellites in LEO. But it's worth remembering they still have 3,234 more to go...

SOURCE: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/14/amazon-to-connect-kuiper-internet-satellites-with-laser-links.html