Amazon mentioned Friday it would make investments $120 million to construct a satellite tv for pc building facility at NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle as a part of its plan to launch an area web service to rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
An organization based by Jeff Bezos says its “Undertaking Kuiper” will present “quick, reasonably priced broadband to unserved and underserved communities world wide,” with a constellation of over 3,200 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
“We’ve got formidable plans for the full-scale manufacturing launch and preliminary buyer pilots of Undertaking Kuiper subsequent yr, and this new facility will play a essential position,” mentioned Steve Metayer, Kuiper vp of manufacturing operations.
The corporate has a second manufacturing facility in Kirkland, Washington, the place it would start operations by the top of this yr.
The items will then be despatched to Florida to bear closing preparations, and can be built-in with the rocket earlier than launch by Blue Origin – additionally based by Bezos – and United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its first batch of greater than 3,700 operational Starlink satellites in 2019 and is by far the biggest participant. London-headquartered OneWeb is one other early entry into the rising sector.
However governments are additionally keen to affix the push.
China plans to launch 13,000 satellites as a part of its Guowang constellation, whereas Canada’s Telesat will add 300 and German start-up Rivada is eyeing 600.
That will be along with the European Union’s Iris venture – 170 satellites – and 300-500 satellites deliberate to be launched by the US army’s Area Growth Company.
