After weather-related problems: Amazon launches more Kuiper satellites
A Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX launched 24 more Kuiper satellites into orbit. Amazon's space internet constellation now comprises 102 satellites.
(Image: NicoElNino/Shutterstock.com)
After weather problems, Amazon successfully launched its fourth series of Project Kuiper internet satellites into low-Earth orbit on Monday. A Falcon 9 rocket from the US aerospace company SpaceX launched 24 more Kuiper satellites into space after four earlier launch attempts were interrupted due to weather concerns. After this fourth mission of its Kuiper project, Amazon now has 102 satellites in orbit.
The Falcon 9 launch vehicle lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday morning at 8:35 a.m. local time (2:35 p.m. CET). About an hour after the launch, SpaceX confirmed that all 24 Amazon satellites had been successfully deployed, US news channel CNBC reported. The rocket launch was originally scheduled for last Thursday, but had to be canceled and postponed several times due to heavy rainfall.
Amazon's race against time
Amazon is under a certain amount of time pressure. To meet the obligations under its license granted by the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020, the US company must have half of its planned 3,236 internet satellites in operation by July 2026. The constellation must then be complete by July 2029.
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Amazon had originally planned to launch its first internet satellites 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. At the end of April this year, Amazon successfully launched the first 27 Kuiper internet satellites into low earth orbit, followed by another series at the end of June.
With its Kuiper project, Amazon plans to use satellites to provide fast broadband internet for remote regions and thus compete with the Starlink space internet from SpaceX by billionaire Elon Musk. Starlink is currently the undisputed global market leader with around 8,000 satellites and around five million customers worldwide. Against this backdrop, the fact that Amazon has now used a SpaceX rocket to transport its satellites into space for the second time is not without a certain irony.
(akn)
