Amazon launched its first 27 satellites into space from Florida yesterday, Monday, to provide space internet services, competing with the high-speed internet services offered by SpaceX's Starlink.
This first batch is among 3,236 satellites Amazon plans to send to low Earth orbit as part of the Kuiper project, a $10 billion initiative revealed in 2019 to provide high-speed broadband internet services to consumers, businesses, and governments worldwide.
The batch of 27 satellites was launched into space at 7 PM Eastern Time from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad, aboard an Atlas rocket produced by the United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint project of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The Kuiper project is considered Amazon's biggest bet in the race to compete with Starlink, and the company has portrayed it as a 'gift' for rural areas where internet connectivity is weak or nonexistent.
The mission to deploy the first wave of satellites was delayed for over a year, as Amazon hoped to launch the first batch in early 2024.
Hours or perhaps days after launch, Amazon is expected to announce initial connectivity with all satellites from its mission operations center in Redmond, Washington, and if things go as planned, the company said it expects to 'begin providing service to customers later this year.'
The CEO of the ULA alliance, Tory Bruno, stated to Reuters in an interview this month that five more batches of Kuiper satellites will be launched this year.
The Kuiper project is an ambitious foray into space, with a late start in a market dominated by SpaceX, but Amazon executives see the company's deep experience in consumer products and the established cloud computing business that Kuiper will connect to as an advantage over Starlink.
Amazon had launched two experimental satellites in 2023 in tests it said were successful, before deorbiting them in 2024.
Space is big enough for everyone
Elon Musk's SpaceX has launched over 8,000 satellites from the Starlink constellation since 2019, and the launch pace has accelerated to at least one mission per week, with each rocket carrying 24 satellites to expand the network and replace older satellites.
This rapid pace has helped Musk's company provide services to over 5 million internet users in 125 countries, revolutionizing the global satellite communications market and attracting military and intelligence agencies seeking to use Starlink and its product line in sensitive national security programs.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO, expressed confidence in Kuiper's ability to compete with Starlink, telling Reuters in an interview last January, 'There is an unfulfilled demand for the internet, there is room for many winners, I expect Starlink to continue its success, and I expect Kuiper to succeed as well.' He added, 'The purpose of the new satellites is primarily commercial, but there will undoubtedly be defensive uses.'
In 2023, Amazon unveiled its own user terminals and antennas for satellite internet, and the company expects to manufacture tens of millions of these devices at under $400 per unit.
Amazon had booked about 83 rocket launches from ULA, French company Arianespace, and Bezos's Blue Origin in 2022, in preparation for the Kuiper project, in the largest rocket launch deal in the history of this industry.