On Wednesday, Amazon Leo reportedly ordered six additional launches on Europe’s Ariane 6 launcher-a significant boost to Europe’s flagship rocket program.
The recent announcement comes at a Paris space gathering where the number of Ariane initiatives ordered by Amazon to 24 by 2031. According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the deal at the opening of a two-day space summit was rejected by top US space firms including Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos after sources last week underlined as White House built pressure over the summit’s Europe-led agenda.
Amazon aims to provide global satellite internet with its low-Earth orbit network of thousands of planned satellites. The deal underscores increasing reliance on Europe’s prime launcher as US supply faces a shortage though European launch activity remains dwarfed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Earlier, Amazon faced a legal deadline to launch half of its initial 3,232 satellites by this summer but that was waived in June after the company cited a launch capacity shortage.
Nonetheless, Arianespace eyes new business to bring its incremental launch tally to 10, which pushes its entire backlog to around 30 launches, with slots available for 2029 and 2030.
