Amazon launched its first two prototype satellites into space on Friday, as Jeff Bezos’ tech giant races to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in building a mega-constellation of broadband internet-providing satellites.
The test satellites were set to launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral space force station during a two-hour window that opens at 2pm EDT (6pm GMT), and they blasted off smartly at the top of the time window.
The satellite duo, called Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2, will be deployed in an orbit 311 miles (500km) above Earth’s surface. From there, tests will be performed to the spacecraft’s systems, solar arrays will be deployed to generate power, and attempts will be made to beam internet connections from space to a customer terminal on Earth.
“This is Amazon’s first time putting satellites into space, and we’re going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds,” Rajeev Badyal, vice-president of technology for Project Kuiper, said in a statement. Amazon said the project aims to bring fast internet connection “to communities around the world that are currently unserved or underserved by traditional internet and communications options”.
The prototype satellites are part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper, a communications network that the company plans to eventually consist of more than 3,200 satellites to launch over the next six years. Amazon’s licence with the US Federal Communications Commission requires that it has at least half of the Project Kuiper satellites in orbit by mid-2026. The company hopes to begin providing service to some customers by late 2024.
But the project has a lot of catching up to do. Its main competitor, SpaceX, already has about 5,000 satellites in orbit as part of its Starlink broadband network, while the UK government-owned OneWeb has nearly 650 satellites in orbit.
The project itself has also suffered setbacks. Amazon originally planned to launch Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2 on a rocket built by ABL Space Systems last year, but the rocket failed in its initial launch. Amazon then shifted its satellites to ULA’s Vulcan Centaur debut mission, which was then also delayed to late 2023.
Satellite internet is often touted as the future of internet connectivity, with its capacity to bridge the digital divide and provide high-speed internet for people who live in rural or hard-to-serve places. The technology could also be a critical backstop when hurricanes or other natural disasters disrupt communication.
But the race to deploy a “megaconstellation” of thousands of satellites has raised alarms in the scientific community, and some astronomers have called for a cap to the number of low-altitude satellites to reduce light pollution and preserve our ability to study the skies. “The potential benefits to humanity are great, but so are the associated concerns,” states a conference organized this week by the International Astronomical Union to address concerns about the impact of large satellite constellations to the night sky.
There are also concerns about entrusting the world’s satellite communications to the whims of a pair of long-feuding megalomaniac billionaires. Last month, Musk acknowledged denying his Starlink network in order to prevent a Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian naval fleet. Musk’s threats to withdraw Starlink communications – a digital lifeline in Ukraine since the early days of the war – had previously been reported at various stages of the conflict, but his admission marked the first time he denied Ukrainian forces access to the network for a specific operation.
• This article was amended on 9 October 2023. An earlier version referred to Elon Musk as having “cut off” access to Starlink for Ukrainian forces planning a drone attack on the Russian navy. This was the original claim made in a biography of Musk, but it was later retracted. Musk later clarified that Starlink was already switched off in this area and that he had refused a request for it to be switched on.
