Amazon is launching its first internet satellites to rival Starlink
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s answer to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, and the first prototype spacecraft are due to launch on 6 October
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
5 October 2023
Amazon is launching its Kuiper satellites aboard an Atlas V rocket
United Launch Alliance
Amazon is set to launch its first ever satellites on 6 October, as the company kicks off plans for a space internet service known as Project Kuiper that it hopes will rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
A pair of satellites called KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 are scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 7pm BST on 6 October. They are due to be placed in an orbit 500 kilometres above Earth’s surface, to test out key components of the Kuiper mega constellation, which is planned to consist of 3200 satellites.
“It’s really important to test the satellites before they can launch the rest of the constellation,” says Tim Farrar, a satellite communications consultant in the UK. “This is a big step forward that we’ve been waiting a long time for.”
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Project Kuiper satellites are designed to connect to remote terminals on Earth, providing internet access in remote or secluded locations that otherwise lack connectivity.
Such space internet has been the target of several companies in recent years, most notably SpaceX in the US and Eutelsat’s OneWeb in the UK. The former has already launched about 5000 satellites and boasts some 2 million users, while OneWeb has nearly 650 satellites in orbit. Amazon is playing catch-up, says Farrar. “It’s going to be very challenging because they are four or five years behind SpaceX at least,” he says.
Amazon has committed to spending $10 billion on Kuiper. Last year, it essentially bought up all the spare launch capacity in the world on every available non-SpaceX rocket – seemingly in an attempt to avoid giving money to its major competitor.
