Amazon’s race to problem SpaceX in orbit is getting a serving to hand from its chief competitor: SpaceX itself, which is able to launch the following batch of Amazon’s Undertaking Kuiper web satellites skyward on Wednesday.
A flock of 24 Kuiper web satellites will trip aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket earlier than daybreak. The mission, dubbed KF-01, has a 27-minute launch window that opens at 2:18 AM ET and can raise off from Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station. As soon as full, it should convey the full variety of Kuiper satellites on orbit to 78. Amazon finally plans to deploy greater than 3,200 spacecraft in its first era constellation in low Earth orbit, aiming to stake a severe declare within the satellite tv for pc web market — a market that’s at present dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink’s community of roughly 8,000 satellites.
Whereas Kuiper and SpaceX might make for unusual bedfellows, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon inked a three-launch take care of SpaceX again in December 2023. That settlement got here scarcely two months after the e-commerce big confronted a lawsuit from shareholders over an earlier choice to not think about SpaceX when it doled out its first spherical of profitable launch contracts, although the Falcon 9 is probably the most dependable rocket flying right this moment.
The catch is, a minimum of half of Kuiper’s preliminary constellation should be deployed by by the top of July 2026, per its license from the U.S. Federal Communications Fee. The clock is ticking: among the many different chosen launch suppliers — United Launch Alliance (ULA), Arianespace, and Blue Origin — solely ULA has an operational rocket obtainable to hold satellites to orbit. ULA launched the primary two batches of Kuiper satellites; the primary batch launched in April.
Blue Origin, Bezos’ different firm, will finally carry Kuiper satellites on its large New Glenn rocket, however it has solely flown as soon as thus far, and it didn’t handle to get better the booster. The second launch is at present scheduled for August 15.
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