Amazon takes first step toward satellite internet service to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink
Amazon launched its first batch of satellites into orbit on Monday in the company’s first step toward rivaling Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite constellation.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper sent 27 satellites up in a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The first batch of satellites will form the beginning of a mega constellation that will provide high-speed and affordable internet service to almost any location on Earth.
Project Kuiper posted on X that the satellites’ initial deployment and activation sequences are proceeding as planned.
The Kuiper team will manage the constellation from its 24/7 mission operations center in Redmond, Washington.
“While this is the first step in a much longer journey to launch the rest of our low Earth orbit constellation, it represents an incredible amount of invention and hard work,” CEO and president of Amazon Andy Jassy said in a post on X.
Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos, plans to deliver more than 3,200 satellites into orbit.
The company has already planned more than 80 launches.
Musk and his company SpaceX currently dominate the mega-constellation market.
Since 2019, the company has launched more than 8,000 Starlink satellites, with more than 7,000 still orbiting over 300 miles above Earth.
The Project Kuiper satellites will travel at a speed of more than 17,000 miles per hour on orbit and circle the planet about every 90 minutes.
While the satellites orbit, the team will send data from the internet, through its ground infrastructure, up to the satellites, and down to customer terminal antennas, and then repeat the journey in the other direction.
Amazon expects to begin delivering its internet service to customers later this year.
Fox Business Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.
