Amazon is planning to launch 27 low-Earth orbit satellites early next week as part of Project Kuiper to provide satellite broadband. The date is set for Monday, April 28, between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET (4 and 6 p.m. PT), barring weather or other factors impacting launch.
Poor weather forced Amazon to abandon its original rocket launch date of April 9. “Weather is observed and forecast NO GO for liftoff within the remaining launch window at Cape Canaveral this evening,” United Launch Alliance said at the time. “The stubborn cumulus clouds and persistent winds make liftoff not possible within the available window.”
The launch mission, KA-01 or Kuiper Atlas 1, will be on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and will take place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. You’ll be able to watch the rocket launch live on the project’s mission page or on YouTube.
It’ll be a big step forward for the project, which Amazon announced in 2019 with promises of a $10 billion investment. Now, the company is poised to enter the race to provide satellite internet service, a space currently dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink, which has about 7,000 satellites. Amazon’s plans call for 3,200 satellites to be deployed over 80 launches. The company intends to provide internet service with this technology later this year.
More competition will improve satellite internet services
The literal space race, which includes Starlink, Amazon and other companies such as Viasat, Hughesnet, Eutelsat and China’s SpaceSail, could mean more internet service availability in far-flung and rural areas with limited broadband options. Though Starlink is the leader in space, some of these other companies are continuing to launch satellites and working to deploy high-speed internet in more markets, such as Brazil. With more players in the market, that could mean faster and cheaper internet in more areas, although whether that actually bears out for consumers remains to be seen.
Mahdi Eslamimehr, executive vice president at Quandary Peak Research and adjunct professor at the Department of Computer Science at USC, said Amazon is well-positioned to compete with Starlink. “Amazon has made extensive launch agreements with major providers such as ULA, Arianespace, Blue Origin, and even SpaceX itself, positioning Kuiper as a major challenger due to its expansive infrastructure and significant resources.”
He said, “While Starlink currently enjoys clear market leadership, it faces increasing competition from well-capitalized and strategically agile competitors, specifically from China, suggesting the market will become considerably more competitive in the near future.”
So far, Eslamimehr said, Amazon’s satellite efforts have been promising and successful, at least in the prototype stages. The company has also been testing Amazon Web Services in space. “These developments collectively underscore Amazon’s robust entry into the satellite internet market and reflect positive early momentum in its overall space strategy.”
Beyond how it fares against Starlink and other companies, the Amazon satellite launches are significant in other ways. Eslamimehr said, “Project Kuiper isn’t just about competition; it’s positioned as a critical step toward closing the global digital divide, promising to deliver high-speed internet to underserved communities worldwide.”
Correction, April 4: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the USC professor and Quandary Peak Research executive vice president. His name is Mahdi Eslamimehr.