Amazon has confirmed plans to delay the launch of its first batch of Internet-from-space satellites, Project Kuiper, to the fourth quarter of 2024. Originally, these Starlink-rival satellites were scheduled to launch in the first half of 2024.
At a ribbon-cutting event for Amazon’s new satellite production facility in suburban Seattle, Steve Metayer, Production Operations Chief for Project Kuiper, announced that customer tests of the Project Kuiper network are now planned to begin in 2025.
According to a blog post by Amazon, the company plans to send out the first completed production satellites to launch sites "this summer," although actual launches will not occur until October. The post stated, "We’re targeting our first full-scale Kuiper mission for Q4 aboard an Atlas V rocket from ULA (United Launch Alliance)."
This delay affects Amazon’s timeline for starting beta trials for Project Kuiper, which were also set to begin later in 2024 with commercial customers. Amazon now expects to begin offering demonstrations to enterprise customers in early 2025, with limited commercial service starting once hundreds of satellites are in orbit. The company added, "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."
Although Amazon did not provide a specific reason for the delay, reports suggest it may be related to issues with its launch partners. In 2022, Amazon announced it would use next-generation rockets from United Launch Alliance, Arianespace, and Blue Origin to deploy most of Kuiper’s 3,236-satellite constellation. All three companies have faced challenges with launching their next-generation rockets.
Amazon aims to provide broadband Internet via its initial constellation of over 3,000 satellites, built and shipped from the new facility, competing with SpaceX’s Starlink network. The company will retire the two prototypes it launched in October as it enhances manufacturing at its Kirkland, Washington, factory, which can produce up to five satellites daily.
In November 2023, Amazon successfully tested the satellite Internet system, releasing a video showing how the technology beams Internet access from orbit to engineers on the ground.
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