Amazon Takes on Starlink in Space Race with Launch of Kuiper Satellites

Time of India

30-04-2025

The first 27 satellites for
Amazon
's Kuiper
broadband internet constellation
were launched into space from Florida on Monday, kicking off the long-delayed deployment of an internet-from-space network that will rival SpaceX's
Starlink
.
The satellites are the first of 3,236 that Amazon plans to send into low-Earth orbit for
Project Kuiper
, a $10 billion effort unveiled in 2019 to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses and governments-customers that SpaceX has courted for years with its powerful Starlink business.
Sitting atop an Atlas V rocket from the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint-venture United Launch Alliance (ULA), the batch of 27 satellites was lofted into space at 7 pm EDT from the rocket company's launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Bad weather scrubbed an initial launch attempt on April 9.
Kuiper is arguably Amazon's biggest bet under way, pitting it against Starlink as well as global telecommunications providers like AT&T and T-Mobile. The company has positioned the service as a boon to rural areas where connectivity is sparse or nonexistent.
The mission to deploy the first operational satellites has been delayed more than a year - Amazon once hoped it could launch the inaugural batch in early 2024. The company faces a deadline set by the US Federal Communications Commission to deploy half its constellation, 1,618 satellites, by mid-2026, but its slower start means Amazon is likely to seek an extension, analysts say.
Hours or possibly days after the launch, Amazon is expected to publicly confirm initial contact with all of the satellites from its mission operations center in Redmond, Washington. If all goes as planned, the company said it expects to "begin delivering service to customers later this year."
ULA could launch up to five more Kuiper missions this year, CEO Tory Bruno told Reuters this month.