Amazon will launch its Internet satellites on Elon Musk’s rockets – Kommersant

Last Friday evening, the American company Amazon announced about signing a contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, under which Amazon will use SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets for three launches of its satellites. The launches will be carried out as part of Amazon’s Kuiper Project program, the goal of which is to create a satellite Internet network of 3.2 thousand satellites in low Earth orbit.

Originally Amazon planned launch satellites using launch vehicles from the United Launch Alliance (ULA – a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing) and Blue Origin, which, like Amazon, is owned by Jeff Bezos. However, according to data American media, due to delays in production and testing, the first test flight of a Blue Origin rocket capable of lifting Internet satellites into the desired orbit should take place only next year.

In early October, Amazon launched the first Internet satellites using ULA’s Atlas V launch vehicle. Prototype satellites, named Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2, were launched into Earth orbit at an altitude of about 500 km. Now Amazon has signed a launch contract with SpaceX, which is not only a competitor to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, but also launches satellites for the Starlink satellite Internet, which competes with Kuiper. SpaceX began launching Internet satellites back in 2019; to date, there are already 4.5 thousand Starlink satellites in orbit.

Evgeny Khvostik