A private American aerospace company that opposed incorporating in Bermuda has already installed and tested a Quartz ground station, the company said last week.

The development came after the Government closed in June a public consultation proposing a regulatory framework for the licensing of on-island earth stations. No announcement has yet been made on what was decided.

Headquartered in Kent, Washington, Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, and is focused on reusable rockets, space tourism, lunar exploration and orbital infrastructure.

Blue Origin has just announced that the first three of nine Quartz ground stations “have been installed and completed acceptance testing in Bermuda, New Zealand and Australia”.

Quartz is the company’s global ground communications network, being purpose-built to support the company’s product portfolio and external customers across a broad range of mission sets.

Blue Origin said in a statement: “Quartz is Blue Origin's ground communications network, purpose-built to address the fragmented infrastructure, limited contact window availability, and opaque pricing models that have long constrained space operators across every mission type.”

Tory Bruno, president of national security at Blue Origin, said: “Ground communications infrastructure has historically been one of the most fragmented and costly elements of space operations, for national security programmes, civil and commercial operators alike.

“With Quartz, we've built a single, fully integrated network that changes that equation. One interface, one operations team, transparent pricing, and a security architecture built to meet the most demanding mission requirements.”

Even when contacted by The Royal Gazette, the company had very little to say about its Bermuda installation.

To accelerate the initial global buildout, Blue Origin said it was working with RBC Signals, a provider of flexible and cost-effective space communications solutions.

RBC Signals is supporting site surveys, antenna procurement, deployment and hosting across the expanding Quartz network. Long term, the team will vertically integrate these activities, enabling Blue Origin to scale Quartz while supporting mission success across the company’s on-orbit portfolio.

RBC Signals will support site surveys and preparation, as well as antenna procurement, deployment and hosting.

The nine stations worldwide are expected to be completed by the end of the year, supporting L, S, X and Ka-band frequencies to enable mission data and telemetry, tracking and command capabilities for geostationary transfer orbit, geostationary orbit, cislunar and beyond.

The frequencies are specific segments of the microwave radio frequency spectrum used heavily in satellite communications, radar and space research.

As part of the Government’s space agenda, the June consultation sought feedback from respondents on what regulatory mechanisms should be put in place to ensure accountability of earth station operators.

Blue Origin’s written response proposed the Government adopt a light regulatory touch: “Similar to licensing, Bermuda should adopt a hybrid accountability framework tied to the licensing tier.

“For low-risk or standardised deployments, accountability can be maintained through registration, operator certification, type approval and enforceable license conditions.

“For blanket authorisations, the licence holder should remain responsible for all terminals operating under the authorisation, including technical compliance, interference resolution and terminal management.

“For higher-risk facilities, accountability may include technical filings, site information, co-ordination records where applicable, and ongoing operational contact requirements.

“In most cases, a 24/7 technical and operational contact should be sufficient and should replace any physical-presence requirement.

“Bermuda should avoid additional local incorporation requirements, land-use authorisations, local consultations or duplicative domestic approvals within the Earth station licensing framework, as these add delay without improving spectrum management or accountability.”