AFP: Amazon launched two satellites on Friday as part of its plan to deliver the internet from space and compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink service.
The Atlas V rocket carrying the satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 2:06 pm local time (6:06 pm GMT).
The launch was carried out by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) industrial group, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Once up and running, the company founded by Jeff Bezos says its Project Kuiper will provide “fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” with a constellation of more than 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
“We’ve done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology.
The company has said it would invest $10 billion in the project and has booked 77 heavy-lift launches with commercial providers Arianespace, ULA, and Bezos-owned Blue Origin.
The first operational satellites of the Kuiper project are due to be launched in early 2024, according to Amazon, which hopes for initial tests with customers at the end of next year.