Amazon to Launch Its First Two Project Kuiper Satellites in 2022
Amazon will launch the first two of its Project Kuiper internet satellites in the fourth quarter of 2022, in a bid to tap the market for internet satellite constellations, a press statement from the delivery giant reveals.
Amazon announced Project Kuiper last week, alongside a partnership with Verizon, which will provide its telecommunications expertise. The two firms are following in the footsteps of SpaceX's Starlink constellation, which has faced several delays, but is fast approaching its full service launch.
Much like Starlink, Project Kuiper aims to provide affordable high-speed internet to areas without fast internet infrastructure.
Amazon and Verizon aim to send 3,236 satellites into orbit
As part of their announcement, Amazon and Verizon revealed they have been granted FCC approval to launch a total of 3,236 low Earth orbit satellites. Firstly though, they will send two satellites into low Earth orbit to test their current design. These are called KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 and they will launch aboard an ABL Space Systems RS-1 rocket in Q4 of 2022. They will function as prototype satellites, allowing the Project Kuiper team to gather data and work on improvements for future satellites.
In Amazon's statement, Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology for Project Kuiper, said "all of the systems are testing well in simulated and lab settings, and we'll soon be ready to see how they perform in space. There is no substitute for on-orbit testing, and we expect to learn a lot given the complexity and risk of operating in such a challenging environment. We can’t wait to get started"
Once the Project Kuiper team has collected the necessary data, the two prototype satellites will meet an "atmospheric demise" as the two satellites are actively deorbited in such a way as to mitigate the risk of orbital debris.
The Bezos-Musk rivalry heats up
So, all in all, it's early days for Amazon and Verizon's satellite internet service. Project Kuiper adds another dimension to the rivalry between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, who have both recently been at the heart of a legal battle involving NASA and a lucrative moon lander contract.
SpaceX undeniably has a stronger portfolio of space milestones when compared with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, which was actually founded two years before SpaceX in 2000. SpaceX, for example, has sent several crewed astronaut missions to orbit, while Blue Origin has only recently sent two space tourist missions to suborbital space. To date, SpaceX's Starlink project has also launched 1,600 satellites to orbit.
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