Amazon Launches First Satellites for Kuiper Space Internet System (bloomberg.com) 38
Amazon has launched its first two satellites for its Project Kuiper, the tech giant's initiative to build a massive constellation of satellites that can provide internet coverage to Earth. From a report: An Atlas V rocket, operated by United Launch Alliance, lofted the pair of satellites en route to orbit from Florida at 2:06 p.m. local time Friday. The mission is still ongoing, and it's unclear when the satellites will be deployed from the rocket.
Project Kuiper's goal is to eventually put 3,326 satellites into low Earth orbit, where they will beam broadband internet service to the ground below, similar to Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink. The two launched Friday, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, are test satellites that will allow Amazon to demonstrate the ability to send and receive broadband signals. This mission has been long delayed. Amazon originally hoped to launch these satellites a year ago on a different, experimental rocket. However, the company wound up switching the launch vehicle for these satellites multiple times, eventually landing on ULA's workhorse Atlas V rocket, in order to get the satellites into space more quickly.
Project Kuiper's goal is to eventually put 3,326 satellites into low Earth orbit, where they will beam broadband internet service to the ground below, similar to Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink. The two launched Friday, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, are test satellites that will allow Amazon to demonstrate the ability to send and receive broadband signals. This mission has been long delayed. Amazon originally hoped to launch these satellites a year ago on a different, experimental rocket. However, the company wound up switching the launch vehicle for these satellites multiple times, eventually landing on ULA's workhorse Atlas V rocket, in order to get the satellites into space more quickly.
Kuiper Space Internet System (Score:2)
Shouldn't that be in the Kuiper Belt?
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Because when I think "farthest fringes of the Solar System", I think "low Earth orbit".
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I know you're being funny, but on a serious note, the Kuiper belt starts at about 30 AU from Earth. Light takes 8 minutes to travel 1 AU. Radio waves to/from that far out would take 8 hours roundtrip. In a web browser, assuming no impediments, fetching /. would take 4 hours to reach the satellite and 4 hours for it to return.
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The average low Earth orbit (LEO) for satellites is about 323 miles. For comparison to my 8-hour round trip to the Kuiper belt and back, the LEO round trip is 3.46 milliseconds.
3326 (Score:2)
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These satellites will be hundreds of miles apart, if they were on the same plane — which they are not - they are in 3D space, it would be one satellite per area the size of those island. In other words if it were on land you’d have to scour for days to find one.
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*Rhode island
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“Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space.”
Only 4998 more needed (Score:2)
Only 4998 more needed to catch up with Starlink. That's a LOT of Atlas V rockets shooting two up a time.
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meanwhile, Starship will soon (hopefully) launching bigger, faster, better and more per launch. Amazon is "us too" due to Elon envy by Bezos
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Sorry, but I'd literally give this service more money just so I wouldn't have to deal with Elon and his properties.
I keep looking at Starlink and it would be incredibly useful. And I simply can't bring myself to give Musk a penny.
Bezos isn't in desperate need of my money, either, but Amazon is a huge part of my life nowadays, and he's not an absolute prat.
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Bezos is simply more private about his business..
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>Sorry, but I'd literally give this service more money just
>so I wouldn't have to deal with Elon and his properties.
gosh, that is the basis for the suit filed by angry shareholders over *not* considering spaceX for launch . . .
hawk
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In August 2021, ULA announced that Atlas V would be retired, and all 29 remaining launches had been sold. As of 6 October 2023, 17 launches remain.
Each Atlas V launch vehicle consists of two main stages. The first stage is powered by a Russian RD-180 engine manufactured by Energomash.
Amazon has selected the Atlas V to launch satellites for Project Kuiper. Project Kuiper will offer a high-speed satellite internet constellation service. The contract signed with Amazo
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The reason Starlink existed is because it gave SpaceX a reason to build and launch gobs of rockets. They needed a customer to justify sending up enough rockets to iterate and develop a successful rocketry program. So they created Starlink. They became their own customer. The entire purpose of building a successful satellite network was to provide a reason to build and launch rockets. It's success was critical to the success of the core business.
Amazon is just playing dick-measuring games by half-assedl
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Re: Only 4998 more needed (Score:2)
And Twitter for? Elon lost the plot on that one.
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Re: Only 4998 more needed (Score:2)
Google is next? There will be tens of thousands of small satellites out there that are not interoperable. The thing that enables the internet is open standards. In orbit, the companies can and will create the vendor-locked business they have not been able to.
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I dunno, who's going to launch all of these Amazon and Google satellites? I doubt SpaceX will do it and compete with themselves. No one else has near the track record or capacity of launching rockets like SpaceX.
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They need to launch 1618 satellites before 2026 deadline or they lose the spectrum from FEC. Right now the ONLY proven launch vehicles that Amazon have contracted for that have actually launch anything is Atlas V (and there's only 28 left having just use 1 to launch only a pair of prototype). I know they'll get an extension, but there's no way in hell that they'll even come close to launching 1/4 of that by the deadline.
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Slight correction, there are only 18 Atlas V left.
Get this (Score:5, Funny)
So 2 are up there a year late! (Score:2)
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Those 2 don't count towards their total numbers. 3326 isn't the important number. They need to launch half of that before 2026 deadline, or 1618. There's no way they'll reach that number by that date.
You only live twice, Mr. Bond (Score:2)
Anybody else wonder if these are really satellite killers to take out Starlink?
Only two at a time? (Score:2)
Do they mean the space rocket... (Score:2)
A good first start (Score:2)
They've got to get a few satellites in orbit to test capabilities and implement fixes. Amazon is behind but they could potentially make more capable satellites and require fewer of them. They will have trouble launching them in volume for quite a while.
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They will have trouble launching them in volume for quite a while.
Especially when they refuse to use SpaceX, at a time when all the other launcher companies with big enough rockets are having troubles. ULA and ESA are running out of rockets because their next generation is taking much longer than planned, and Blue Origin still has no sign of their first launch any time soon. Time is ticking, Amazon only has like two years left to launch a few thousand satellites to meet the first FCC deadline.
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SpaceX launch their first pair of prototype Tintin A&B back in 2018, 6 years ago. Yeah, Amazon have some real catch up to go.
From Kuiper space internet system... (Score:2)
Riding on Atlas V and not Blue Origin (Score:2)
It goes without saying that the hardware used to launch these can trace its lineage to a launch system from the 1950s. It also speaks volumes that Blue Origin didn't carry the payload to orbit.
nope (Score:2)
Fake headline. Amazon did not launch them; ULA did.
An Atlas V? (Score:2)
Man, aren't they ever going to run out of those things. Are they building them new, or are these recycled ICBM's or some such?
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There are only 17 Atlas V left. 7 are reserved for Boeing for Starliner. 1 for USSF (because Vulcan-Centaur is late). 1 for ViaSat for ViaSat3. And remaining 8 for Kuiper.