Amazon’s Project Kuiper slips again
June 28, 2024
By Chris Forrester
Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband-by-satellite system, potentially the main rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink, has again delayed its launch date.
Kuiper’s first satellites will not now launch much before the end of the year. The company talks about Q4, but has not given a firm date. Amazon had previously said that its debut satellites would launch in the first-half of this year, and a ‘beta’ service was scheduled for later this year.
Those dates have slipped. The first satellites are waiting for a launch on the giant United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket. Other launch contracts are in place with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rockets and Europe’s Ariane 6 vehicle. SpaceX has also been reserved for a few launches. However, Blue Origin and Ariane 6 are far from ready to fulfil their contracted obligations.
“We will continue to increase our rates of satellite production and deployment heading into 2025, and we remain on track to begin offering service to customers next year,” Amazon said on June 27th. “To meet that rapid cadence, the team has invented new, more efficient ways to test hardware without compromising the reliability and safety of our spacecraft. The innovative testing process we use at Kirkland has reduced the test time from months to days for individual satellites.”
Kuiper says its new satellite production factory in Kirkland, Washington State – which opened in April – can build up to five satellites a day, but its obligations are challenging. To meet FCC rules it must build and launch into orbit at least half of the planned 3232 mega-constellation by July 2026.