Friday, March 29

Amazon Records Dozens of Launches for Its Satellite Web

Amazon has recorded 83 rocket launches to enable the company to deploy most of its planned high-speed internet satellite web over the next five years.

 

Most of the launches (38) will be performed by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of US companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin. It will use its new Vulcan Centaur rocket for this purpose, the first flight of which is planned this year.

The European Arianespace has been contracted for 18 launches with its Ariane 6, still under development. Its first test flight is planned for later this year, with the rocket expected to be operational in 2023. The remaining launches will go to Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

With the so-called Project Kuiper, Amazon wants to put 3,236 satellites into orbit around the earth. But, first, they have to provide high-speed internet via satellite. Other players, such as SpaceX’s Starlink (Elon Musk) and London-based satellite operator OneWeb, are working on similar satellite internet.

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