Amazon has completed the long-delayed first launch of satellites for Project Kuiper, the company’s planned orbital internet network.
A pair of test satellites lifted off aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, shortly after 2pm ET on Friday, according to launch footage posted by ULA on X (formerly Twitter). If all goes well, the satellites will be deployed 311 miles above the ground and remain in low Earth orbit for testing.
The two satellites are prototypes of the more than 3,200 satellites the company plans to build and deploy over the next six years.
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s plan to build a new category of service to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet from SpaceX, which already has thousands of satellites in orbit providing internet to over a million customers in several countries. Amazon CEO Andy Jassay has said that the Kuiper satellite service will be a core part of the company going forward.
While the original plan, announced last October, was for Kuiper’s first launch to be on ULA’s newest Vulcan Centaur rocket, which uses engines built by Blue Origin (a company run by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos), it was instead mounted on an Atlas V rocket. ULA’s next launch will be the first using the Vulcan rocket.
When will you be able to get internet service from Amazon?
Amazon aims to begin launching its operational satellites in the first half of next year, with beta testing for commercial customers planned around , Cord Cutters News reported on Friday.
The service will be available to consumers, government, healthcare, businesses and various organisations to provide affordable broadband services where there isn’t already access to fast, reliable internet.
As well as regular customers, Amazon says that in the event of natural disasters or other emergencies, Project Kuiper terminals can be quickly deployed to add Internet infrastructure.
