Amazon plans 77 satellite launches for Project Kuiper
Seattle-based Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) has lined up 77 launches to deploy its constellation of 3,236 telecommunications satellites, and the first two are scheduled for Dec. 30 and 31, according to spacelaunchschedule.com.
Amazon calls this the “largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history,” though the claim obscures a pertinent detail. Starlink, the SpaceX constellation that Amazon’s Project Kuiper will compete with, already has deployed more than 4,600 satellites with more to come and hasn’t had to procure launch vehicles because it has its own. SpaceX, which has satellite production facilities in Redmond, has been using its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets to deploy its satellites.
The Project Kuiper launches will happen aboard Arianespace, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin rockets, with all the United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin launches happening out of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to Project Kuiper Senior PR Manager Brecke Boyd. Of the 77, 18 are contracted to Arianespace, departing from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
