Amazon secures 83 launches from three commercial space companies, a notable moment in space history
Amazon announced on April 5, 2022, a vast set of launch contracts with three launch providers – Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (ULA). The contract is to deploy its 3,236-satellite broadband mega constellation at 630 – 590 km from the surface of the earth.
The plan is to have a total of 83 launches in a 5-year-period with Project Kuiper. This is the largest commercial contract for space launch services in history. The three agreements provide for 38 launches on ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, 18 flights on Arianespace’s Ariane 6, and 12 launches on Blue Origin’s New Glenn, with the possibility of 15 more.
Project Kuiper is a global endeavor to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites. It aims to bring low-latency, high-speed broadband access to the world’s unserved and underprivileged populations. Kuiper Systems LLC, an Amazon subsidiary, was founded in 2019 as a part of Amazon’s family of products and services for Project Kuiper.
Rajeev Badyal, Vice President of Technology for Project Kuiper says “Affordability is job-one for us.”
To keep the costs low, Project Kuiper has designed the satellites themselves. The solar arrays, the reaction wheels, the satellite constellation management systems, thermal solutions, unique and bespoke networking, engineering, manufacturing – everything from the ground up. Keeping everything in-house has got them costs at two orders of magnitude cheaper. More than 1,000 people are now working on the Project Kuiper initiative, which will serve tens of millions of customers globally.
Amazon’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license requires it to have half its satellites in orbit by July 2026. Amazon hasn’t launched any Kuiper Satellites as of April 2022. The first prototype flights are scheduled to happen in the fourth quarter of 2022.
However, as low-earth orbit gets more crowded, astronomers have claimed that the light reflected from these satellites as they pass overhead is obstructing their view of the night sky.
