Start capacities secured
Amazon plans network of 3236 satellites
4/5/2022 2:51 p.m
In addition to online trading, the cloud business is an important factor for Amazon. In the future, thousands of satellites will ensure good global networking and fast Internet connections.
Amazon has secured space for dozens of rocket launches for its planned satellite network with fast Internet access. Contracts with the European provider Arianespace and the space company Blue Origin, among others, involve up to 83 starts, as Amazon announced. The network, called Kuiper, is said to have 3,236 satellites. Amazon competes with the Starlink network of the company SpaceX from tech billionaire Elon Musk.
For the group, which has grown from an online retailer to the largest provider of cloud services with its AWS division, it is the next expansion of the business. From the point of view of top manager Dave Limp, to whose device division the project belongs, it makes perfect sense for Amazon to operate its own satellite network. “Pretty much everything Amazon does is built on connectivity,” Limp said. Without an internet connection, a company cannot use AWS services, customers cannot stream videos or shop on Amazon.
When it comes to Internet access via satellite, people usually think of Africa – even in rural parts of the USA there are large areas without good online access, Limp emphasized. Amazon’s goal is to create the most powerful system for Internet delivery from low orbits. It definitely takes more than one provider to solve the problem for everyone. On the one hand, Amazon wants to offer the fast Internet access to individual households in a classic subscription model. On the other hand, however, cooperation with mobile phone companies is also planned, which could then fall back on the Kuiper infrastructure to supply their customers.
Amazon has secured 47 launches with launch vehicles from the United Launch Alliance and 18 Ariane 6 missions to build the satellite network. There is an agreement with the company Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, for 12 launches – with one option up to 15 more.