To quickly build out Project Kuiper—a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink—Amazon is preparing to build a $120 million facility in Florida dedicated to placing the company’s satellites onto rockets.
The 100,000-square-foot facility is being built in Space Florida, a special economic zone at the Kennedy Space Center in the state. “The space will be used to prepare and integrate Kuiper satellites with rockets from Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (ULA) ahead of launches,” the company said.
The facility promises to help speed up the rollout for Project Kuiper, which will span 3,236 satellites capable of beaming high-speed broadband to users on the ground. Amazon will start producing the satellites in a Kirkland, Washington, facility by the end of this year. Those satellites will be sent to the new facility in Florida to be slotted inside their respective rockets.
The facility is also important because Amazon has to launch half of the planned 3,236-satellite constellation by July 30, 2026, or risk losing its FCC license to operate the satellite network.
The company has encountered repeated delays with launching the first prototype satellites. The prototypes were supposed to go up into Earth’s orbit this summer on board ULA's Vulcan Centaur rocket. But last week, ULA said it would have to push back the launch to Q4.
Amazon didn’t provide any update on the prototype satellites in Friday’s announcement; it merely said the satellites are slated to launch in the coming months. But it looks like Amazon remains bullish on getting Project Kuiper up and running for customer trials in 2024.
“We have an ambitious plan to begin Project Kuiper’s full-scale production launches and early customer pilots next year, and this new facility will play a critical role in helping us deliver on that timeline,” said Steve Metayer, Amazon’s VP for Kuiper production operations.
Starlink, in the meantime, already has over 4,000 satellites in orbit.