LEO Gold Rush: The Billion-Dollar Race to Own Low Earth Orbit (2024–2030)
SpaceX’s Starlink has launched over 8,000 satellites since 2019, with about 4,000 operational and service in 125+ countries serving more than 5 million users. OneWeb merged with France’s Eutelsat in 2023 to form a combined GEO+LEO operator, after launching 618 of 648 Gen1 satellites by March 2023 and planning Gen2 at around 300 satellites. Amazon’s Project Kuiper aims for 3,236 satellites, with the first operational Kuiper launch in April 2025 carrying 27 satellites and a deployment target of about 1,618 satellites by mid-2026 under an 83-launch pre-purchase deal. China’s Guowang megaconstellation targets roughly 13,000 LEO satellites by the early 2030s,