The Amazon Web Services (AWS) logo is seen during the 4th annual Latin American Business and Technology Congress of América Digital in Santiago de Chile, September 5, 2018.
Ivan Alvarado | Reuters
Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing arm of the e-commerce giant, is further expanding its services in the growing space industry.
The company announced Tuesday that AWS is establishing a new unit called Aerospace and Satellite Solutions, led by former US Air Force Major General Clint Crosier, who recently led the establishment of the US Space Force. USA
“We are at the most exciting time in space since the Apollo missions,” Crosier said in a statement.
AWS has previously worked with the public and private sectors in the space industry, supporting everything from satellite design to space flight operations. Aerospace and Satellite Solutions will seek to offer a wide range of services to companies in the industry. Job listings for the unit identify that it is seeking to provide services for nearly all space subsectors, including rocket launches, human space flight support, robotic systems, mission control operations, space stations, satellite networks, and more. .
Amazon has increased its influence in the space industry in recent years, with a satellite connection service called AWS Ground Station and a satellite internet company called Project Kuiper, which would compete with SpaceX’s Starlink and other satellite broadband providers. AWS Ground Station, launched in November 2018, is already serving clients such as NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and satellite operators Iridium Communications and Spire Global.
Lockheed Martin, Geollect, Maxar Technologies, and Capella Space are some of the space companies that, as AWS customers, praised the company’s expansion in the industry.
“Together, we share a vision to help our customers access data faster and gain new insights from sensors in space that make data even more accessible,” said Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Rick Ambrose, it’s a statement.
Although totally separate from Amazon, Jeff Bezos also runs another space company called Blue Origin that is developing next-generation rockets and spacecraft, such as a lunar lander to return humans to the moon.
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