Artist’s concept of the Vulcan Centaur rocket from United Launch Alliance, one of the three heavy-lift launch providers Amazon selected for Project Kuiper. | Photo Credit: Business Wire
Amazon has announced agreements with three companies – Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), to deploy the majority of its Project Kuiper satellites that aim to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband to a wide range of customers across the globe.
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The tech giant has secured a total of up to 83 launches over a five-year period, which according to the company, is the largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history.
The contracts include 18 launches with Arianespace’s Ariane 6 rockets, 12 launches using Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin’s New Glenn, with options for up to 15 additional launches, and 38 launches on Vulcan Centaur, ULA’s newest heavy-lift launch vehicle.
“Securing launch capacity from multiple providers has been a key part of our strategy,” Rajeev Badyal, VP of Technology for Project Kuiper at Amazon, said in a statement. “This approach reduces risk associated with launch vehicle stand-downs and supports competitive long-term pricing for Amazon, producing cost savings that we can pass on to our customers.
The announcement brings Amazon’s satellite internet constellation one step closer to reality, as its rival Elon Musk-owned SpaceX continues to launch more Starlink satellites, having launched about 2300 satellites already, and expanding Starlink’s presence with about 2.5 lakh subscribers globally.
Amazon’s present agreement with ULA is in addition to its existing deal to secure nine Atlas V vehicles from the space launch firm, announced in April last year. Besides, Project Kuiper plans to launch two prototype missions later this year on ABL Space Systems’ RS1 rocket.
The two prototype satellites – KuiperSat-1 and 2, will include much of the technology and sub-systems that power the production version of the company’s satellite design, and are an important step in the development process, according to Amazon.
The e-commerce giant said it is working with Beyond Gravity, a Switzerland-headquartered space technology provider, to build low-cost, scalable satellite dispensers that will help deploy the Project Kuiper constellation.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper was approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in July 2020, with a constellation of 3,236 satellites in the low Earth orbit (LEO). Later that year, the company had revealed its low-cost customer terminal for Project Kuiper, capable of delivering speeds up to 400 Mbps.
The Seattle-based company noted that it is designing and developing the entire system in-house, combining a constellation of advanced LEO satellites with small, affordable customer terminals and a secure, resilient ground-based communications network.
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Printable version | Apr 6, 2022 11:40:19 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/amazon-partners-with-three-firms-to-launch-its-satellite-internet-constellation/article65297516.ece
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