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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Blue Origin’s TeraWave is a proposed satellite communications network—not a constellation already in orbit. Its January 2026 filing describes 5,408 satellites, and the company said deployment was planned to begin in the fourth quarter of 2027. That date is a target, not confirmation that deployment has started.
What Blue Origin announced
Blue Origin announced TeraWave on January 21, 2026, as a high-capacity communications network intended for enterprise, data-center, and government customers. The company presented it as a potential alternative or complement to terrestrial and subsea fiber networks. Its filing with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requests authority to launch and operate the proposed system; an application is not an approval.
The filing specifies 5,408 satellites in total: 5,280 in low Earth orbit (LEO) and 128 in medium Earth orbit (MEO). Thus, the “5,400” figure in the headline is a rounded description of the planned constellation, not a count of satellites currently operating. Blue Origin’s FCC application provides the configuration details.
How the proposed network would work
TeraWave is described in the application as a non-geostationary fixed-satellite service system. Its proposed architecture combines multiple orbital layers with ground-based gateway and user terminals, and includes point-to-point connectivity.
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| Proposed component | Details in the application |
|---|---|
| LEO constellation | 5,280 satellites in three orbital shells from 520 to 540 km altitude |
| MEO constellation | 128 satellites in five orbital shells from 8,000 to 24,200 km altitude |
| Frequency bands | Q/V-, E-, S-, and Ka-bands |
| Ground segment | Gateway and user terminals |
Blue Origin described radio-frequency (RF) links for the LEO portion and optical links for the MEO portion. Space.com reported the company’s advertised maximum capabilities as up to 144 Gbps on LEO RF links and up to 6 Tbps on MEO optical links. These are company design or marketing claims, not independently measured customer speeds or guarantees of service performance. Space.com’s announcement coverage reports those figures.
Who TeraWave is meant to serve
Blue Origin positioned TeraWave for organizations with substantial connectivity needs, naming enterprise, data-center, and government users. The announcement’s framing is different from a direct promise of ordinary household broadband: the stated role is high-capacity connectivity that could work alongside or as an alternative to fiber infrastructure. The available announcement and filing do not establish consumer availability, pricing, coverage, latency, or real-world reliability.
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What the 2027 date means
Blue Origin said it planned to begin deployment in the fourth quarter of 2027. That is a forward-looking company target reported at the January 2026 announcement, not evidence that launches have occurred or that service will be available to customers by then. Reuters also reported the Q4 2027 target in its coverage carried by Investing.com: Reuters via Investing.com.
As of the information reported here, the regulatory status established by the cited material is an FCC application seeking authority to launch and operate the system. The filing does not show that the FCC granted that authority. The schedule and service prospects therefore remain subject to regulatory and deployment milestones.
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Project Sunrise is a separate proposal
Blue Origin later filed a separate proposal called Project Sunrise for an orbital data-center system of up to 51,600 satellites. TechCrunch reported that the proposed data centers would use TeraWave as a high-throughput communications backbone. Project Sunrise’s proposed satellites are not part of TeraWave’s 5,408-satellite count; the two are distinct filings and proposals. TechCrunch’s Project Sunrise coverage describes the separate plan and its intended relationship to TeraWave.
Quick Recap
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