The first two prototypes of the company’s Project Kuiper extraterrestrial network were launched today (October 6) from the Cape Canaveral Florida Space Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket at 2:06 PM ET (18:06 GMT). .

The Atlas V booster was supposed to launch the satellites, called Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2, into an orbit at an altitude of about 311 miles (500 kilometers) about 18 minutes after liftoff. Today, ULA completed its webcast before that milestone was reached.

According to the company’s FAQ page, Amazon began research on the Kuiper project in 2018 and received a distribution and operating license from the US Federal Communications Commission in 2020.

This license gave the green light to the first batch of 3,236 satellites, and Amazon is operating at least half of them by July 2026. Most of the Kuiper spacecraft will reach low Earth orbit (LEO) on a trio of heavy rockets (ULA’s Vulcan). Centaur, Arianespace’s Ariane 6, and New Glenn, built by Blue Origin, an aerospace company founded (like Amazon) by Jeff Bezos.

None of these rockets have yet flown, which explains why Atlas V went online today. KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 were scheduled to fly on the maiden flight of Vulcan Centaur this spring, but that launch has been repeatedly delayed. So in August, Amazon decided to replace ULA launchers.

In fact, this was the second pass for KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2; It had originally planned to launch the prototypes on ABL Space System’s RS1 rocket late last year, but Amazon reversed course after ABL experienced delays with the vehicle.

If all goes as planned, Vulcan Centaur will fly for the first time before the end of the year, sending a lander built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic to the moon. Ariane 6 is expected to launch in early 2024, and New Glenn could make its debut later that year.

It is noteworthy that the SpaceX Falcon Heavy heavy lifter, which has already completed seven missions, is not included in the list of Project Kuiper launch vehicles. Next week, the Falcon Heavy will make its eighth flight, if all goes as planned, sending NASA’s Psyche spacecraft to a metallic space rock in the asteroid belt.

SpaceX, of course, operates its own broadband mega-constellation in LEO: Starlink is currently operational with a suite of approximately 5,000 operational satellites.

And this number will continue to increase in the distant future. SpaceX has approval to put 12,000 Starlink spacecraft into low orbit and has applied for approval for another 30,000 satellites. Meanwhile, the Kuiper project has just entered the orbital testing phase.

KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 “will allow us to test communications and networking technologies that will be used in our final satellite design and will help us validate launch operations and mission management procedures that will be used during the deployment of our entire constellation,” Amazon representatives wrote about the satellites in late 2021. Source