Amazon Begins Testing Kuiper Satellite Network
Amazon’s first pair of prototype satellites for its planned Kuiper Internet network were launched into space Friday from Florida, the company’s first step before sending thousands more into orbit to beam Internet service worldwide and compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket emblazoned with the Amazon logo lifted off from Cape Canaveral shortly after 2 p.m. Eastern Time (1800 GMT) carrying two Kuiper test satellites, a long-awaited mission that Amazon originally planned to launch on different rockets.
The goal of the mission is to test Amazon’s first pieces of technology in space, as the e-commerce and online services giant plans to deploy 3,236 more satellites in the next few years and provide broadband internet worldwide. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is aiming for that with nearly 5,000 Starlinks. satellites in orbit.
In the days leading up to the launch, Amazon revealed few details about the two satellites being built at its satellite factory in Redmond, Washington.
Hosted by United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture, the launch mission ended shortly after liftoff with no satellites visible. Amazon later said the two satellites were deployed and had been contacted by its operations center.
Amazon has pledged to invest $10 billion in its Kuiper project, announced in 2019, the year SpaceX began deploying its first operational Starlink spacecraft.
The US Federal Communications Commission requires Amazon to deploy half of its planned satellite configuration by 2026.
The market for low-Earth-orbiting satellite broadband Internet services is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars over the next decade.
While Starlink will make SpaceX the world’s largest satellite operator, Amazon’s other competitors include Canada’s Telesat, which has yet to launch satellites, and French satellite company Eutelsat OneWeb, which offers its internet services mainly to governments and businesses.
Like SpaceX, Amazon aims to target Kuiper at individual consumers and business customers. He is building his deviceslegal SpaceX’s Starlink consumer terminals are $599.
To deploy the rest of the Kuiper network, Amazon last year announced a megalaunch contract for 83 launches — the largest commercial rocket procurement ever — from several rocket companies, including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, ULA and Europe’s Arianespace.
Amazon and Bezos, its founder, are facing a shareholder lawsuit over that launch deal, accusing the company of failing to exercise due diligence and not consider rival SpaceX’s potentially cheaper rockets. SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rocket has been a key part of Starlink’s rapid deployment.
