Project Kuiper: Amazon launches second series of internet satellites

The second series of internet satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper space internet reached low Earth orbit on Monday. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V launch vehicle with 27 Kuiper satellites on board lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:54 a.m. local time (12:54 p.m. CET).

Ben Chilton, an engineer at ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, spoke of a "new chapter in satellite connectivity in low Earth orbit" in the livestream after the launch. The launch had previously been postponed twice due to bad weather and a problem with the rocket engine.

Amazon under time pressure

Amazon had originally planned to launch its first internet satellites into space at the end of 2022. But there were repeated delays. In the second half of 2023, Amazon launched two test satellites into space to test the functionality of the system. Finally, at the end of April this year, Amazon successfully launched the first 27 Kuiper internet satellites into low earth orbit.

In order to meet the obligations under its license granted by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020, Amazon must build half of the constellation by 2026. The constellation must then be complete by July 2029. For its Kuiper project, Amazon plans to launch a total of 3236 satellites into low earth orbit to provide fast broadband internet for remote regions and thus compete with the Starlink system of Elon Musk's US space company SpaceX. The market leader currently has more than 7,000 satellites in orbit.

According to the US news channel CNBC, Amazon has booked more than 80 launches with various providers, including SpaceX, to put Kuiper satellites into orbit. ULA is expected to complete up to five satellite transports for Project Kuiper this year.

Independent European satellite network

There has been a lot of movement on the satellite market in recent months. In order to strengthen Europe's technological sovereignty, the European Union (EU) is increasingly looking for European options for commercial and military satellite communication. It wants to become less dependent on US satellite operators such as Amazon, but above all on Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet. This is due to growing concerns about technological and security policy dependency, particularly on Washington, but also on Beijing.

In mid-2022, the French satellite operator Eutelsat and the British-Indian satellite internet company OneWeb agreed on a merger. For example, the EU Commission is offering Ukraine Eutelsat as an alternative to Starlink for securing capacity for satellite communication. Recently, a surprising change of leadership at the top of Eutelsat made headlines. In addition, the takeover of Luxembourg satellite operator Intelsat by competitor SES is becoming more concrete. At the beginning of June, it was then announced that Deutsche Telekom was participating in the European program for near-Earth satellites IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security via Satellite). The European Commission awarded the contract for IRIS² to the European consortium SpaceRISE at the end of last year. The consortium comprises the three European satellite network operators SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat.

(akn)