Amazon Is Teaming Up With SpaceX To Launch Its Project Kuiper Satellites
Planning to deploy the satellites on Falcon 9 rockets.
Although SpaceX is Amazon’s competition when it comes to satellite internet service, the two companies will be joining forces. The unexpected partnership arose after Amazon purchased three Falcon 9 launches from SpaceX in order to send its Project Kuiper satellites into orbit.
For those unfamiliar, Project Kuiper was founded in 2019 as Amazon’s plan to launch a network of satellites globally to provide broadband internet connectivity. The company has over 3,000 satellites it’s aiming to launch and per its approval terms with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), it must launch and operate at least 50% of those satellites by 2026.
It seems that Amazon is attempting to amp up its efforts in order to meet that deadline, which is why it’s working alongside its own competitor – SpaceX is carrying out its own satellite endeavor. Last year, Amazon also inked contracts with United Launch Alliance, ArianeGroup and Blue Origin to deploy Project Kuiper.
The three Falcon 9 rockets are expected to begin taking off in mid-2025. Amazon has already launched some of its prototype satellites and says they “expect to have enough satellites deployed to begin early customer pilots in the second half of 2024.”
