Blue Origin is no longer content to just launch other people’s satellites. With its newly announced TeraWave network, the company is pitching a space-based backbone that it says will move data at up to 6 terabits per second, a figure that works out to roughly 6,000 times the peak speed usually associated with consumer Starlink terminals. Instead of chasing individual households, the project is aimed at the plumbing of the internet itself, from hyperscale data centers to telecom carriers.
That shift in focus turns the familiar satellite internet story on its head. Rather than another low Earth orbit constellation fighting for rural subscribers, TeraWave is framed as infrastructure for cloud giants, content platforms, and national networks that already push terabits of traffic across oceans and continents.
What TeraWave actually is
At its core, TeraWave is described as a global communications network built around a constellation of satellites that function as a high-capacity relay between major internet hubs. Reporting on the project explains that the system is designed to carry terabits of data center traffic, effectively acting as a space-based alternative to subsea cables and long-haul fiber for the most bandwidth hungry customers. In that framing, TeraWave is less a consumer internet service and more a wholesale backbone that can sit between cloud regions, financial centers, and national networks that need predictable, ultra high throughput.
To make that possible, Blue Origin is planning a mixed-orbit architecture that uses both low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit spacecraft, linked together with advanced inter-satellite links so traffic can be routed across the constellation without constant ground handoffs. One detailed breakdown notes that TeraWave is built around optical inter-satellite links (ISL) and a layered design that prioritizes resilience and routing flexibility, a very different emphasis from residential megaconstellations that focus on cheap user terminals and dense ground coverage. That same analysis underscores that Jan and Blue Origin are positioning TeraWave as a purpose-built backbone rather than a clone of existing systems, with the architecture tuned for data center to data center connectivity and high availability across its space-based mesh, as described in TeraWave.
From launch provider to orbital infrastructure player
The move into a dedicated satellite network marks a strategic pivot for Blue Origin, which until now has been best known for its rockets and suborbital tourism flights. Coverage of the announcement describes TeraWave as a deliberate expansion from launch services into orbital infrastructure, with the company seeking to own both the transport layer and the vehicles that put it in space. That vertical integration matters, because it allows Blue Origin to fill its own New Glenn manifest with internal payloads while also capturing recurring revenue from bandwidth sales instead of one-off launch contracts.
Analysts note that the company plans to use its heavy lift New Glenn rockets to deploy the constellation, tying the future of the network directly to the success of its launch business. One report explains that Blue Origin unveiled TeraWave as a global satellite network designed to handle terabits of data center traffic and explicitly linked the deployment cadence to the company’s New Glenn rockets, which are expected to carry clusters of satellites per flight. In that context, TeraWave becomes both a customer and a showcase for New Glenn, a strategy laid out in detail in coverage of Blue Origin.
The 6 Tbps claim and the “6,000x Starlink” comparison
The headline number that has grabbed attention is Blue Origin’s promise of “up to 6 terabits per second” of data throughput from its satellites. Company statements cited in multiple reports say the network will deliver data speeds of up to 6 terabits per second from spacecraft positioned in low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit, a capacity level that puts TeraWave firmly in the realm of backbone infrastructure rather than consumer broadband. To put that in perspective, 6 terabits per second is 6,000 gigabits per second, a figure that dwarfs the 100 megabit per second class service that many Starlink users see in practice.
One analysis goes further, explicitly framing TeraWave as “6,000 times faster than Starlink will be,” based on the comparison between the 6 Tbps per satellite figure and the roughly 1 gigabit per second aggregate capacity often associated with individual Starlink spacecraft. That same report notes that Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is effectively firing a rocket across the bow of Elon Musk’s SpaceX by promising download speeds of 6 Tbps per node, a claim that, if realized, would radically change expectations for what a single satellite can carry. The 6 Tbps figure is repeated in several technical rundowns, including one that highlights how Blue Origin stated that the network will offer up to 6 Tbps data throughput globally, reinforcing that this is the central performance promise behind TeraWave. Those capacity claims are detailed in coverage of Earth, in analysis of 6 Tbps, and in technical summaries from TechDogs.
Constellation design, orbits, and deployment timeline
Behind the marketing numbers is a very specific constellation plan. One detailed briefing on the project states that Blue Origin has introduced TeraWave as a communications network comprising 5,408 satellites, a scale that puts it in the same league as other megaconstellations but with a different mission profile. Those satellites are intended to operate in both low Earth orbit and medium Earth orbit, with the mixed altitude approach chosen to balance latency, coverage, and resilience. The same report notes that the network is intended to compete directly with Elon Musk’s Starlink, but with a focus on high capacity links of up to 6 terabits per second rather than mass market residential service.
On the orbital side, technical coverage explains that the constellation will occupy a range of altitudes from roughly 8,000 to 24,200 km, a band that is more typical of medium Earth orbit systems than the very low orbits favored by consumer-focused networks. Another report on the project’s rollout states that deployment of the first TeraWave satellites is scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2027, giving Blue Origin a relatively long runway to finalize spacecraft design, ground infrastructure, and launch cadence. Those same sources emphasize that the company intends to leverage this higher orbit regime to reduce the number of satellites needed for global coverage and to avoid some of the congestion and debris concerns often associated with residential megaconstellations. The constellation size and competitive framing are laid out in a post on 5,408, while the altitude range and strategic expansion into the high capacity backbone market are detailed in high-capacity and the deployment schedule is spelled out in Deployment of the.
Target customers, rivalry with Starlink, and the Amazon Leo wrinkle
Where Starlink has focused on individual users, small businesses, and rural communities, TeraWave is being pitched squarely at enterprise and carrier customers. One report describes how Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin Enterprises LP announced plans to launch an ultra high speed satellite constellation that will offer connectivity of up to 1 Gbps to end users, but with the core design optimized for backhaul and interconnection between large networks. Another analysis of the project frames it as a Starlink competitor, noting that Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has unveiled TeraWave as a system that promises higher capacity, greater redundancy, and rapid scalability for operators that need to move huge volumes of data between continents and cloud regions.
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