The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has confirmed that it has granted authorisation to Amazon to significantly expand its planned Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network to more than 7,700 satellites.
The FCC has approved the deployment of two new systems, Gen2 and Polar, alongside the previously authorised Gen1 constellation.
The expanded Amazon Leo constellation includes the first-generation network currently being rolled out, which has 180 satellites in orbit at present out of a planned 3,232 satellites designed to operate at altitudes between 590 km and 630 km.
The number of satellites in orbit should break 200 by the end of the week, with a planned launch from French Guiana scheduled for tomorrow (12 February) of 32 satellites aboard Arianespace’s Ariane 64 rocket.
The newly authorised second-generation system would add another 3,212 satellites mirroring the Gen1 orbits, as well as a Polar system with 1,292 satellites operating at higher inclinations (66 to 82 degrees) to provide better coverage in high-latitude regions.
This approved expansion brings the total number of planned satellites to 7,736.
Under the terms of the FCC license, Amazon faces specific deployment milestones. For the Gen1 system, the company is still currently being told it must launch and operate 50% of its authorised satellites by 30 July 2026, though it did formally request a two-year extension to that cut-off date earlier this year and a final decision on that filing is pending.
The Gen2 and Polar systems follow a later timeline, with a 50% completion deadline of February 2032.
The approval of this network expansion comes as Amazon announced its first two resellers for the maritime market, with Dubai-based ELCOME and US operator MTN signing deals to provide the service across the maritime sector when it comes available, to customers in commercial shipping, yachting, offshore, and cruise & ferry.
