Amazon Successfully Launches KuiperSat-1 And KuiperSat-2 To Low Earth Orbit

Photo: Amazon successfully launched their first two Kuiper satellites (photo: dock. Amazon)

United Launch Alliance (ULA), a launch service provider, confirmed that Amazon successfully launched its first satellite on October 6. Amazon not only launched one, but two satellites from the Kuiper project.

Quoting from Engadget, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 were carried by the Atlas V Rocket into low Earth orbit and launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

This launch mission, named Protocol, is an opportunity for Amazon to improve much in the future. What's more, Amazon wants to contribute to finding things in space.

The company, known for its e-commerce, hopes to gain a lot of interesting insight into network performance around the world and outer space. Project Technology Vice President Kuiper Rajeev Badyal also said, "We will learn a lot regardless of how the mission is carried out."

Seeing that the mission was going perfectly at the start, Amazon was just waiting for time to deorbit the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 satellites before they both caught fire in the atmosphere.

In the near future, Amazon will develop the Kuiper project according to their objectives, namely creating a fast and affordable broadband around the world. They plan to fly 3,200 satellites within the next six years.

Amazon will wait for approval from the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) before launching a planned production satellite in the first half of 2024. Once approved, they will conduct testing with several customers.