Amazon is planning to launch 27 low-Earth orbit satellites this night as a part of Venture Kuiper. The launch window is ready for Wednesday, April 9, between 7 and 9 p.m. ET (4 to six p.m. PT), relying on climate and different elements. As of 5 p.m., it now has a launch time of 8:39 p.m. ET.
The launch mission, “KA-01” or Kuiper Atlas 1, might be on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and can happen at Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station. There is a mission web page for updates on the launch and plans to livestream the takeoff.
You possibly can watch the rocket launch stay on the mission web page or on YouTube.
It’s going to be a giant step ahead for the undertaking, which Amazon introduced in 2019 with guarantees of a $10 billion funding. Now the corporate is poised to enter the race to supply satellite tv for pc web service, an area at present dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink, which has about 7,000 satellites. Amazon’s plans name for 3,200 satellites to be deployed over 80 launches. The corporate intends to supply web service with this expertise later this 12 months.
Extra competitors will enhance web companies
The literal area race, which incorporates Starlink, Amazon and different corporations resembling Viasat, HughesnetEutelsat and China’s SpaceSail, may imply extra availability of web service in far-flung and rural areas which have restricted broadband choices. Although Starlink is the chief within the area, a few of these different corporations are persevering with to launch satellites and dealing to deploy high-speed web in additional markets resembling Brazil. With extra gamers available in the market, that would imply sooner and cheaper web in additional areas, though whether or not that really bears out for customers stays to be seen.
Mahdi Eslamimehr, govt vice chairman at Quandary Peak Analysis and adjunct professor on the Division of Laptop Science at USC, stated Amazon is effectively poised to go up in opposition to Starlink. “Amazon has made in depth launch agreements with main suppliers resembling United Launch Alliance (ULA), Arianespace, Blue Origin, and even SpaceX itself, positioning Kuiper as a significant challenger on account of its expansive infrastructure and important assets.”
He stated, “Whereas Starlink at present enjoys clear market management, it faces rising competitors from well-capitalized and strategically agile opponents, particularly from China, suggesting the market will develop into significantly extra aggressive within the close to future.”
Amazon’s satellite tv for pc efforts to date, Eslamimehr stated, have been promising and profitable, at the least within the prototype levels. The corporate has additionally been testing Amazon Internet Providers in area. “These developments collectively underscore Amazon’s strong entry into the satellite tv for pc web market and replicate constructive early momentum in its total area technique.”
Past the way it fares in opposition to Starlink and different corporations, the Amazon satellite tv for pc launches are important in different methods. Eslamimehr stated, “Venture Kuiper is not nearly competitors; it is positioned as a vital step towards closing the worldwide digital divide, promising to ship high-speed web to underserved communities worldwide.”
Correction, April 4: An earlier model of this story misspelled the identify of the USC professor and Quandary Peak Analysis govt vice chairman. His identify is Mahdi Eslamimehr.
