Conquering space (and the lucrative satellite market). The American firm Blue Origin, founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, announced on Wednesday March 8 that it had signed its first contract with the giant Eutelsat.
It will thus be responsible for putting the satellites of the European operator into orbit. New opportunities for the company, initially specializing in space tourism. Blue Origin is entering a market already occupied by historical players such as the French Arianespace or the Russian-American International Launch Services (ILS). And since 2010, the American company SpaceX has also launched into sending satellites into space, thanks to its Falcon 9 rocket. Rockets capable of returning to Earth Founded by Elon Musk, also at the origin of the manufacturer Tesla automobile, SpaceX aims to make its launchers profitable by landing them once the satellite has been launched, and then reusing them.
After several failures, the test phases were successful: the rocket was recovered intact on Earth. Jeff Bezos’ company intends to imitate its competitor, with its launcher called New Glenn. Blue Origin still has some time to prepare. The contract signed with Eutelsat provides for the launch of a geostationary satellite in 2021 or 2022, the European group said in a press release.
