• The first Quartz stations in Bermuda, New Zealand and Australia have completed testing, with nine sites planned by the end of 2026
  • RBC Signals is supporting site surveys, antenna procurement, deployment and hosting, while spare Quartz capacity can be offered through its wider network

The fact

Blue Origin has begun deploying its Quartz ground communications network, with the first three stations installed and successfully tested in Bermuda, New Zealand and Australia. The company plans to extend the network across nine sites by the end of 2026.

The initial stations use 3.7-metre antennas supporting S- and X-band communications for low-Earth-orbit missions. Blue Origin says later installations will use 9-metre antennas supporting L-, S-, X- and Ka-band services for missions extending to geostationary and cislunar space. Its Global Network Operations Center will oversee operations and incident response across Quartz sites.

RBC Signals is supporting site surveys, antenna procurement, deployment and hosting during the initial buildout. RBC says the new antennas will also join its global ground-station network, allowing spare capacity to be offered to other customers.

The assessment

RBC Signals is handling much of the early site work for Quartz, including surveys, antenna procurement, deployment and hosting. Blue Origin will run the network from its own operations centre, while RBC says unused Quartz antenna time can be offered through its wider ground-station network. Blue Origin therefore controls the network without needing to operate every local site itself from the outset.

That arrangement should help Blue Origin add ground coverage while RBC provides the local infrastructure and operating support behind each station. It also gives RBC another source of antenna capacity when Blue Origin is not using it. Blue Origin says it expects to bring more deployment and hosting work in-house over time, so the balance between the two companies may change as the network grows.

For BTW readers, Quartz gives Blue Origin its own ground-network layer without requiring every antenna to be reserved exclusively for Blue Origin missions. The first nine sites will show how much spare capacity RBC can place with other customers while Blue Origin retains control of network operations.

What to Watch

Watch the remaining six sites reach acceptance testing and routine service before year-end, especially the first locations with 9-metre antennas. Then look at how spare antenna time is scheduled between Blue Origin missions and RBC customers. Any published priority rules, service-availability commitments or changes in hosting responsibility would clarify how the arrangement works as Quartz expands.