Amazon's Project Kuiper Tips Massive Satellite Launch Deal
Project Kuiper, Amazon’s intended rival to SpaceX's Starlink for low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband, announced a trio of launch contracts Tuesday that its press release calls "the largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history."
These deals involve three large rockets that have yet to fly: Arianespace’s Ariane 6, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur, and Blue Origin’s New Glenn.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns and bankrolls the last firm, which is also providing the first-stage engines in ULA’s Vulcan–a replacement for its almost-retired Atlas V, which launches on Russian-built engines and which Kuiper previously booked for its first nine launches.
Amazon’s announcement doesn’t cite a value or schedule but says the covered launches—38 on Vulcan Centaur, 18 on Ariane 6, and 12 on New Glenn, plus a possible 15 extra—will loft the majority of Kuiper’s 3,236-satellite constellation.
The Federal Communications Commission’s July 30, 2020, authorization requires Kuiper to have 50% of the constellation operational by July 30, 2026, with the rest due three years later. That suggests a busy schedule at ULA and Blue Origin’s launch pads at Cape Canaveral, Fla., and at Arianespace’s facilities at the European Space Agency’s Kourou, French Guiana complex.
Kuiper—the name is a shout-out to astronomer Gerard Kuiper—aims to provide high-speed connectivity from satellites in orbits from about 366 to 390 miles up. Those altitudes, like those of Starlink, allow for much faster service. Amazon said in 2020 that Kuiper can deliver 400Mbps download speeds, without the severe latency of geostationary satellites almost 22,000 miles higher.
Amazon hasn’t discussed Kuiper service costs, upload speeds, or any possible data
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