Blue Origin Submits Satellite Application for Space-Based Data Centers
The application comes after Amazon criticized a similar proposal by SpaceX.
WASHINGTON, April 6, 2026 — Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has asked U.S. regulators to launch a massive satellite system designed to host data centers in space, an effort it calls “Project Sunrise.”
If approved, the application submitted to the Federal Communications Commission on March 19, would deploy up to 51,600 satellites in low-Earth orbit between 500 and 1,800 kilometers. The system is intended to process artificial intelligence and cloud workloads outside traditional terrestrial data centers.
The filing sets up a competitive dynamic with SpaceX, which filed a similar proposal in February. Amazon’s low-Earth orbit unit previously urged the FCC to reject that application as “incomplete, speculative, and unrealistic.” Both Amazon Leo and Blue Origin are owned by Bezos.
