After years of growth, the second is lastly right here: Amazon will ship two of its Kuiper check satellites to area, as the corporate seems to be to tackle reigning incumbent SpaceX with its personal satellite tv for pc web constellation.
The 2 prototypes will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida throughout a two-hour launch window that opens at 2 PM EST. In a current weblog put up, Amazon mentioned the 2 satellites – dubbed KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 – are “the primary iterations of greater than 3,200 satellites Challenge Kuiper plans to fabricate and deploy over the subsequent six years.”
Though the corporate could have an extended method to go earlier than filling the skies with its mega-constellation, the launch represents a key milestone and can little doubt give Amazon’s technical Kuiper crew tons of information on satellite tv for pc efficiency.
“We’ve executed in depth testing right here in our lab and have a excessive diploma of confidence in our satellite tv for pc design, however there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” mentioned Rajeev Badyal, Challenge Kuiper’s vice chairman of know-how. “That is Amazon’s first time placing satellites into area, and we’re going to study an unimaginable quantity no matter how the mission unfolds.”
Like SpaceX’s Starlink, prospects will be capable to use Kuiper web by buying particular person terminals. This prototype mission will check how the satellites work together with these terminals, in addition to the bottom programs that the satellites will use to speak with Earth.
Amazon is aiming to launch its first manufacturing satellites within the first half of subsequent 12 months and begin beta testing with prospects by the tip of 2024. The corporate has a little bit of stress to maneuver quick: it has to have no less than half of its deliberate constellation in orbit by 2026 to be in compliance with its spectrum license from the U.S. Federal Communications Fee.
Again in 2020, Amazon mentioned it could make investments greater than $10 billion in Kuiper throughout the bottom community, satellite tv for pc testing and manufacturing, and person terminals.