Bezos vs. Musk: Europe launches rocket with Amazon satellites against Starlink
Businessman Jeff Bezos (Photo: Getty Images)
Europe has successfully launched its most powerful rocket, the Ariane 6, carrying Amazon satellites, marking a direct challenge to Elon Musk’s Starlink, reports Bloomberg.
Read also: Ukraine's defense ministry reports successful operation targeting Russian Starlink terminals
On Thursday, February 12, the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched the heavy version of the Ariane 6 rocket from the Kourou launch site in French Guiana.
This launch is the first of 18 planned for the Ariane 6. On board were 32 Amazon LEO satellites for Jeff Bezos’ Project Kuiper. They are intended to become part of a global internet network and strengthen competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.
This Ariane 64 version, with four boosters, can deliver over 20 tons of payload to low Earth orbit - twice the capacity of the previous Ariane 62 version.
Industry experts say that Ariane 6 is not just hardware, but a symbol of Europe’s space independence and its ability to compete in the commercial market.
For the European Space Agency (ESA), this success is a strategic triumph following a series of technical challenges in the past. Ahead lie 17 more planned missions, aiming to deploy a constellation of 3,200 satellites and challenge SpaceX’s dominance in global space-based internet.
Starlink on the front line
When it became clear that Russia was increasingly using Starlink on drones, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine quickly contacted SpaceX to address the issue.
Afterward, the Ministry of Digital Transformation announced that Ukraine is implementing a whitelist system. This involves a list of verified Starlink terminals that work reliably for Ukrainian users but remain inaccessible to the enemy.
At the same time, Russian units along the entire front line are attempting to restore blocked Starlink terminals. To bypass the restrictions, they are even offering Ukrainians money to register Russian devices at local service centers (CNAPs), exploiting public trust.
