It looks like Project Kuiper, Amazon’s satellite Internet program, finally has a launch date for its first instrument in orbit. The new schedule has been officially announced and points towards the first quarter of 2023.
An agreement has been signed with the United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch on the debut of the new Vulcan rocket, which will also carry Astrobotic’s Peregrine Lunar Lander, according to Jeff Bezos’s company.
The Vulcan rocket’s maiden flight is a few years behind schedule due to unforeseen issues with the design and testing of the BE-4 engine developed by Blue Origin. The vehicle is expected to be finished and ready for launch in November this year.
ULA already has a contract with Amazon to launch 47 Project Kuiper, 38 of which are with Vulcan rockets. However, Kuiper also has other partners, such as Arianespace and Blue Origin, that will simultaneously launch 3,236 satellites.
The numbers also attract attention, but the idea is to create a constellation capable of providing high-speed connections to the entire world, in the same way as SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, which already have more than 4,000 units in orbit.
Announced in 2019 and slated for release in 2020, Amazon’s Project Kuiper has gone through several delays and is only expected to hit the ground next year. Only time will tell whether Jeff Bezos’s company can compete with Elon Musk.
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