Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites, taking on Starlink

The first 27 satellites for Amazon's Kuiper broadband internet constellation were launched into space from Florida in the US 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 Amazon plans to send into low-Earth orbit for Project Kuiper, a $10bn (R185.5bn) effort unveiled in 2019 to beam broadband internet globally for consumers, businesses and governments, customers 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 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 and global telecommunications providers such as AT&T and T-Mobile. The company has positioned the service as a boon to rural areas where connectivity is sparse or non-existent.

The mission 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 (FCC) to deploy half its constellation, 1,618 satellites, by mid-2026, but its slower start means Amazon is likely to seek an extension, analysts said.

Hours or possibly days after the launch, Amazon is expected to publicly confirm initial contact with all the satellites from its mission operations centre 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, ULA CEO Tory Bruno told Reuters in an interview this month. Amazon said in a 2020 FCC filing it could begin service in some northern and southern regions at 578 satellites, with coverage expanding towards Earth's equator as the company launches more satellites.

Amazon executives believe the company's deep consumer product experience and established cloud computing business that Kuiper will connect with will give it an edge over Starlink.

Amazon launched two prototype satellites in 2023 in tests it said were successful before deorbiting them in 2024. It had been relatively quiet about the programme's development until announcing its first Kuiper launch plans earlier this month.

'Room for lots of winners'

Elon Musk's SpaceX, with a unique edge as a satellite operator and launch company with its reusable Falcon 9, has put more than 8,000 Starlink satellites in orbit since 2019, marking its 250th dedicated Starlink launch on Monday. Its deployment pace has hastened to at least one Starlink mission per week, each rocket with roughly two-dozen satellites on board to expand the network's bandwidth and replace outdated satellites.

The quick pace has helped Musk's company amass more than 5-million internet users across 125 countries, upend the global satellite communications market and woo military and intelligence agencies that have sought to use Starlink and its manufacturing line for sensitive national security programmes.

Amazon executive chairperson Jeff Bezos has voiced confidence Kuiper can compete with Starlink, telling Reuters in a January interview “there's insatiable demand” for the internet.

“There's room for lots of winners there. I predict Starlink will continue to be successful, and I predict Kuiper will be successful as well. It will be a primarily commercial system, but there will be defence uses for the LEO constellations, no doubt,” he said, referring to low-Earth orbit.

Amazon in 2023 revealed its Kuiper consumer terminals, an LP vinyl record-sized antenna that communicates with Kuiper satellites overhead, and a smaller terminal whose size it compares to its e-book Kindle device. The company expects to make tens of millions of the devices for less than $400 (R7,423) each.

Amazon in 2022 booked 83 rocket launches from ULA, France's Arianespace and Blue Origin, Bezos's space company, snagging the industry's biggest launch deal as it prepared to begin Kuiper deployment.