Amazon on Tuesday announced agreements with companies Arianespace, Blue Origin and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) for more than 80 space launches that will carry thousands of satellites into low-Earth orbit, intended to provide broadband Internet to millions of people.
Source: AFP
“The contracts provide for up to 83 launches over a five-year period, allowing Amazon to deploy the majority of its 3,236-satellite constellation,” the company said in a statement.
The e-commerce giant, which has diversified into its digital storage services, said it was the largest commercial order for rockets in history.
However, the total cost and the agreed launch schedule to make Amazon’s Project Kuiper a reality were not published.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the team has continued to achieve milestone after milestone in every aspect of our satellite system,” Amazon Vice President Dave Limp said in the statement.
“Project Kuiper will provide fast, affordable broadband to tens of millions of customers in underserved and underserved communities around the world.”
Despite its size, Amazon’s fast satellite Internet project is not the first.
Billionaire Elon Musk, head of the space company SpaceX, has already placed 2,000 satellites into orbit – out of a planned total of 12,000 – to create his own Starlink internet network, which already sells services in many countries.
And Britain’s OneWeb has already sent some 428 of the 648 satellites planned for its own service.
– Two from the USA and one from France –
ULA got the most contracts, with 38 launches. This joint venture between the American giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which operates from Cape Canaveral in Florida, will invest to have a second platform in that emblematic site of space history, which will allow a “greater launch rate” for its Vulcan Centaur rocket. .
For its part, Blue Origin, which like Amazon was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, will carry out 12 launches using its future New Glenn rocket, with an option for an additional 15. But the company will also benefit from the ULA contract because it builds the engines for the Vulcan Centaur.
The only non-US participant, France’s Arianespace, was in charge of 18 launches, aboard Ariane 6.
The Kuiper Project aims to provide high-speed Internet to homes, schools, emergency operations and others in places that lack reliable connectivity, according to Amazon, which has already said it has invested “more than 10,000 million dollars” in this initiative. .
According to Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology, Rajeev Badyal, Amazon planned from the start to hire several space launch companies, with a view to reducing the risks of delays and saving money through competition.
“These huge heavy-lift rockets also allow us to deploy more of our (satellite) constellation with fewer launches,” Badyal said.
The large number of planned launches is expected to boost this sector in the United States and Europe.
“This contract, the largest we have signed, is a great moment in the history of Arianespace,” CEO Stephane Israel said in the statement.
ULA head Tory Bruno hailed “the beginning of an exciting era” for her company and the entire US space launch industry.
Although neither Amazon nor Arianespace gave details about the start of the project or the schedule, Israel said to expect “six launches per year in three years.” Each Ariane 6 will carry about 35 Kuiper satellites.
