FCC Chairman Brendan Carr testifies during the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology hearing titled "Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission," in Rayburn building on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr lashed out at Amazon on Wednesday for opposing SpaceX's orbital data center plans while it's falling short of its own satellite "deployment milestone."
"Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit," Carr wrote in a post on X.
Amazon last week urged the FCC to reject a SpaceX application for permission to launch a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites, which would function as a data center network in space to support artificial intelligence projects.
Amazon characterized the application as a "lofty ambition rather than a real plan," noting SpaceX has provided scant details around how it will "deliver on these grand claims."
SpaceX's Starlink service currently dominates the internet-from-space market. Amazon has been vying to compete with Starlink via its Leo satellite service, previously branded as Kuiper. The company has invested more than $10 billion into the effort, and has sent up at least 200 satellites since last April via a variety of launch partners, including Elon Musk's SpaceX.
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In late January, Amazon asked the FCC for a waiver or 24-month extension, to July 2028, to meet a deadline that requires it to deploy roughly 1,600 internet satellites by July 2026. At the time, the company blamed delays beyond its control, including a "shortage in the near-term availability" of rockets and manufacturing disruptions.
Amazon noted in its request that the FCC has previously granted similar extensions. The FCC last month approved a separate petition from Amazon to deploy 4,500 internet satellites, which would more than double the size of its constellation.
Starlink has around 9,000 satellites in orbit today and roughly 9 million customers. It recently received authorization from the FCC to put another 7,500 satellites into orbit.
Scientists have decried the SpaceX proposal to launch one million satellites into orbit, citing a wide range of issues, including light pollution, orbital debris and other harms to the broader orbital environment, as well as increased risk of "Kessler syndrome," a scenario in which debris and clutter in space can cause a chain reaction that makes low Earth orbit unusable.
Amazon pointed to these concerns from astronomers and environmental groups in its petition, and said SpaceX's application "risks worsening international backlash" from regulators who are concerned about monopolization of space resources.
"Granting the application would worsen matters further, forcing every other operator in Low-Earth Orbit to plan around a constellation that may never exist, distorting international spectrum and orbital coordination proceedings, and lending regulatory legitimacy to what amounts to a publicity and narrative-shaping exercise," Amazon wrote in its request to the FCC.
The FCC hasn't yet approved SpaceX's request, but in separate remarks to Reuters on Wednesday, Carr said he doesn't expect Amazon's petition to "get much traction."
Carr is a longtime public fan of SpaceX who has mocked environmental concerns from those calling out Musk's company for launches that harmed public lands and endangered species' habitat.
He also accused the FCC, under former President Joe Biden, of "regulatory harassment" of SpaceX when the agency found the company's Starlink WiFi service was not fit at the time to fulfill the program needs of a rural broadband initiative.
