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Amazon is preparing to complete one final journey for its prototype Project Kuiper satellites: Having them burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
The company is preparing to "deorbit" the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, which launched in October. Both have shown that Project Kuiper—a rival to Starlink—can deliver high-speed internet and maneuver in space. After achieving a 100% success rate "across key mission objectives," Amazon now wants to see how the prototypes perform when it comes to satellite disposal.
(Credit: Amazon)Like Starlink, Project Kuiper satellites are meant to fly in low-Earth orbit, but only for several years before they're retired. But rather than having defunct spacecraft pile up as space junk, the companies designed their satellites to drop out of orbit and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere.
In a blog post, Amazon said: “We plan to actively deorbit all satellites within one year of their mission ending, and this final phase in the Protoflight mission will allow us to collect data on the deorbit process as we gradually lower satellites from their initial target altitude.”
Amazon says the de-orbiting process will occur over several months. First, the company will use the thrusters on KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 to "gradually lower satellites to an altitude of around 217 miles (350 kilometers), at which point atmospheric demise will follow." It'll then continue to share data about the satellites’ position with other spaceflight operators and "use active collision avoidance as needed to further reduce risk."
The satellites should then experience a fiery descent through the atmosphere, and fully disintegrate. Although the prototypes will soon be gone, Amazon plans on replacing them with a whole fleet of finalized production Project Kuiper satellites, starting later this year, although no launch date has been announced. The company has secured an FCC license to operate over 3,200 satellites to power Kuiper—half of which must become operational by July 30, 2026.