Amazon launches first Kuiper satellites into space

Amazon has started building Project Kuiper and launched the first satellites into space. Kuiper is Amazon's constellation for satellite internet, with which the company wants to compete with SpaceX's Starlink.

The 27 satellites were launched into space by an Atlas V launcher from the United Launch Alliance (ULA). This lifted off from the Cape Canaveral launch site in the US state of Florida at 7 p.m. local time on April 28 (April 29, 1 a.m. our time) and deployed the satellites at an altitude of around 450 kilometers. The intended orbit is around 180 kilometers higher. The satellites will reach this orbit using their propulsion system.

The 27 satellites are only the first tranche. According to the license issued in 2020, half of the satellites must be launched into space by July 2026. The constellation must be complete by July 2029. In the final expansion stage, it will consist of 3,200 satellites.

ULA to fly five more times for Amazon in 2025

Amazon has already secured further rocket launches for this. ULA is set to complete up to five more satellite transports for the company this year.

Amazon launched two test satellites into space in 2023 to test the functionality of the system before they were lowered in 2024 and burned up on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.

The plan was to launch the first regular satellites into space in the first half of 2024. Test operations were then due to begin at the end of the year. In the end, the launch was delayed until April 2025. According to the plan, it was to take place on April 9, but had to be postponed due to bad weather.

Fast internet for remote regions

Project Kuiper is intended to bring fast internet to remote regions that are not yet covered by cable or mobile communications. Another application could be to bring Internet to airplanes.

However, US aerospace company SpaceX's competitor, Starlink, is much larger: SpaceX has already carried out over 250 satellite transports for Starlink. At the end of March, the constellation consisted of more than 7100 satellites. Over five million people worldwide use the system.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is not fazed by this: “There is an insatiable demand” for the internet, he told the British news agency Reuters at the beginning of the year. “There is room for many winners. I predict that Starlink will continue to be successful, and I predict that Kuiper will also be successful.”

(wpl)