Not just books, cloud, and smart gadgets: now Amazon is aiming for the stars. The launch of the first 27 satellites of Project Kuiper marks the beginning of a new ambitious space venture for Jeff Bezos’s company, in an increasingly fierce competition with Elon Musk and his Starlink.
The merchandising giant has officially started its race to space. On Monday, the satellites were sent into orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard an Atlas V rocket produced by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. This is the first concrete step of the plan aimed at bringing high-speed internet to every corner of the planet.
The project, still in its early stages, aims to compete with Starlink, SpaceX’s service which already operates thousands of satellites and serves millions of users worldwide. Amazon’s goal is to deploy over 3,200 orbital devices in the coming years, but the competition starts with a significant advantage.
Amazon isn’t just targeting the residential market, as Starlink initially did. The company aims to integrate Project Kuiper with Amazon Web Services (AWS), its powerful cloud infrastructure, to provide advanced solutions to large businesses and governments. This could prove particularly useful for applications requiring massive data transfer and analysis, such as satellite imagery or meteorology.
Ground stations will play a crucial role, connecting the satellites to the terrestrial network and enabling, for example, energy companies to monitor remote wind farms or offshore platforms.
It will take hours, perhaps days, to establish full contact with the structures and verify their functionality. The first spacecraft were positioned at about 280 miles of altitude, but they will use their propulsion systems to reach the operational orbit at 393 miles.
According to United Launch Alliance’s CEO, this launch represents only the first step of a collaboration set to intensify in the coming years.
In 2023, Amazon tested two satellite prototypes, declaring the experiment a success. Those models were not meant for the operational network but provided valuable data to refine every component of the project.
A senior executive from the Kuiper team emphasized, in a promotional video, that the transition from two experimental objects to a fleet of over 3,000 is a large-scale technical challenge.
The U.S. company informed the Federal Communications Commission FCC, that it will begin providing service once at least 578 satellites are launched, with the first connection expected by the end of 2025. The authorization stipulates that half of the constellation must be operational by July 2026, although extensions may be granted in the event of significant progress.
Another obstacle concerns flight logistics. In addition to possible technical delays, there is the problem of rocket availability: the tech giant has booked up to 83 missions on various vehicles, including Blue Origin’s New Glenn, owned by Jeff Bezos, ULA’s Vulcan, and Arianespace’s Ariane 6.
In a surprising move, Amazon has also purchased three launches from SpaceX’s Falcon 9, despite being in direct competition with the company. This decision came after Amazon was sued by an investor who accused the board of ignoring the most reliable and tested rocket in favor of less proven alternatives.
In 2000, there were fewer than 1,000 satellites in orbit around Earth. Today, SpaceX alone operates over 7,000 and aims to reach 42,000. The arrival of Kuiper and other mega-constellations could turn space into a crowded digital junction, urgently requiring traffic coordination to avoid collisions or debris. However, once their operational life is over, the satellites will be directed toward Earth’s atmosphere, where they will burn up without leaving lasting debris.
