Watch United Launch Alliance launch two Mission Kuiper take a look at satellites for Amazon
After years of growth, the second is lastly right here: Amazon will ship two of its Kuiper take a look at satellites to area, as the corporate appears to be like to tackle reigning incumbent SpaceX with its personal satellite tv for pc web constellation.
The 2 prototypes will launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida throughout a two-hour launch window that opens at 2 PM EST. In a current weblog put up, Amazon mentioned the 2 satellites – dubbed KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 – are “the primary iterations of greater than 3,200 satellites Mission Kuiper plans to fabricate and deploy over the subsequent six years.”
Though the corporate can have a protracted option to go earlier than filling the skies with its mega-constellation, the launch represents a key milestone and can little question give Amazon’s technical Kuiper group tons of knowledge on satellite tv for pc efficiency.
“We’ve completed intensive testing right here in our lab and have a excessive diploma of confidence in our satellite tv for pc design, however there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” mentioned Rajeev Badyal, Mission Kuiper’s vp of know-how. “That is Amazon’s first time placing satellites into area, and we’re going to study an unimaginable quantity no matter how the mission unfolds.”
Like SpaceX’s Starlink, prospects will be capable of use Kuiper web by buying particular person terminals. This prototype mission will take a look at how the satellites work together with these terminals, in addition to the bottom methods that the satellites will use to speak with Earth.
Amazon is aiming to launch its first manufacturing satellites within the first half of subsequent 12 months and begin beta testing with prospects by the tip of 2024. The corporate has a little bit of stress to maneuver quick: it has to have at the least half of its deliberate constellation in orbit by 2026 to be in compliance with its spectrum license from the U.S. Federal Communications Fee.
Again in 2020, Amazon mentioned it might make investments greater than $10 billion in Kuiper throughout the bottom community, satellite tv for pc testing and manufacturing, and person terminals.
