Amazon has completed the second launch of its Kuiper internet satellites on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The cloud service’s parent company is pushing ahead with plans to deploy a massive satellite constellation that will compete directly with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
ULA launched the satellites at 6:54:30 a.m. EDT today, according to a live broadcast. Project Kuiper is Amazon’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband telecommunications network. The goal is to provide reliable, high-speed internet to customers around the world, especially those in underserved communities, through a constellation of more than 3,200 LEO satellites.
Amazon partners with ULA to conduct majority of Kuiper satellite launches
This launch is the second of 46 scheduled Project Kuiper missions. Amazon has signed a contract with ULA to provide the largest commercial satellite launch service in history, including 8 Atlas V launches and 38 Vulcan launches. The constellation consists of more than 3,200 LEO satellites to provide reliable, high-bandwidth internet connectivity across the globe. According to ULA, the system serves all customer segments, from households, schools, hospitals, businesses to government agencies, especially in areas with poor internet coverage.
📸 Atlas V emerged from the sun today to successfully deliver the second batch of Kuiper Project broadband satellites into orbit.
Zoom photo album: https://t.co/VZachAUGIG pic.twitter.com/4btiuVLF37
— ULA (@ulalaunch) June 23, 2025
In a livestream, ULA ordnance engineer Ben Chilton emphasized that this is a new milestone in the field of low-orbit satellite connectivity. The launch has been postponed twice due to bad weather and rocket booster problems. Amazon has booked more than 80 launches with partners such as SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and European provider Arianespace to put the Kuiper satellite into orbit.
Project Kuiper was announced six years ago as an ambitious plan to build a low-orbit internet-beaming satellite constellation. The goal is to compete directly with Starlink, Elon Musk’s flagship internet satellite constellation with more than 8,000 satellites launched. Starlink has launched 55 new Starlink missions this year.
In April, Amazon launched 27 Kuiper satellites into LEO orbit, a region of space less than 1,200 miles above Earth. That brings the project to 54 of a planned 3,236 satellites. Amazon must launch 50% of the constellation, or 1,618 satellites, by a July 2026 deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Broadband connectivity via LEO satellites becomes a global trend
Amazon is expected to make initial contact with all of its satellites from its operations center in Redmond, Washington, today or soon. The company said it could begin offering internet service to customers later this year if all goes well. According to a 2020 FCC filing, the service will begin covering northern and some southern regions with 578 satellites, expanding to the equator.
ULA CEO Tory Bruno said as many as five Kuiper launches are possible this year. The first two Kuiper prototypes were launched in 2023, helping the program mature into mass production of the foundation satellites. These satellites are coated with a dielectric mirror film that diffuses reflected light, minimizing the optical impact on astronomers who have resisted the rapid proliferation of low-orbit satellite constellations.
China is not alone in investing heavily in its LEO satellite communications network. The Guwong and Qianfan projects have recently launched satellites for two constellations with more than 10,000 satellites each. Guwong is a national priority with four launches of 34 satellites since December 2024. The project is expected to have up to 12,992 satellites, of which 6,080 will fly in ultra-low orbits of 500 to 600 km, and the rest in orbits of 1,145 km.
Source: https://tintucbitcoin.com/amazon-launches-kuiper-first-starlink-planet/
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