Amazon Delays Project Kuiper Prototype Launch From Q4 to Q1 2023
A prototype launch for Amazon’s satellite internet service Project Kuiper is getting pushed back from Q4 to next year’s Q1.
The company originally intended to launch the prototype satellites, Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2, during the fourth quarter by sending them onboard an RS-1 Rocket from ABL Space Systems. But on Wednesday, Amazon announced it’s actually going to deploy the prototypes through a new launch provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA).
The goal is to send up Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2 through ULA’s upcoming Vulcan Centaur rocket early next year. “ULA is scheduled to provide 47 launches for our satellite constellation, and using Vulcan Centaur for this mission will give us practical experience working together ahead of those launches,” the company wrote in a blog post(Opens in a new window).
The Kuiper satellites are scheduled to fly on a Vulcan Centaur rocket that’ll also carry the NASA-sponsored Peregrine lunar lander. The same launch is also expected to be the maiden flight for the Vulcan Centaur rocket. Reuters reports(Opens in a new window) ULA recently decided to push back the maiden flight from the fourth quarter to early next year so that the makers of the Peregrine lunar lander had more time to finish its development.
Despite the launch delay, Amazon says its work on the prototype Project Kuiper satellites is still scheduled to be completed this year. The team has also begun scaling production to “support a full deployment,” the company added.
“Our first production satellites —the more advanced spacecraft that will power our commercial broadband service— are scheduled to launch on ULA’s Atlas V rocket. From there, we will begin to phase in the Vulcan rocket alongside newer heavy-lift rockets from
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