(Credit: Amazon)
SpaceX's Starlink dominates the satellite internet industry, but Amazon recently published an inside look at its own satellite venture, Project Kuiper, as it tries to play catch-up.
The four-minute video comes as Amazon prepares to launch its first production satellites into orbit on Wednesday. (Update: Launch was scrubbed due to weather and hasn't been rescheduled yet.) It shows that Amazon has major ambitions for its own Starlink competitor, which includes developing affordable dish models.
"The design is done; we’re now in the factory manufacturing it,” says Nima Mahanfar, director of antenna development for Project Kuiper, in the video. “We’re going to build tens of millions of these antennas, and we are well on our way."
Like SpaceX, Amazon says it developed Project Kuiper’s technology “in-house,” including the satellites and the dishes. The video offers a glimpse at the company’s efforts to develop the Kuiper equipment, which has involved putting the dishes through various environmental tests, such as freezing temperatures.
The same video also shows that Amazon is building a growing number of “gateway stations” across the planet to relay the high-speed internet from the ground to orbiting satellites. “We already have a bunch of these sites installed everywhere from Australia to Germany. And more and more of them are coming online every month,” says Kuiper’s Senior Manager for Launch Vehicles, Melissa Wuerl.
Amazon is also working to bring Project Kuiper to passenger aircraft through a partnership with Airbus. Starlink has been doing the same for a growing number of airlines, including United.
Although Amazon hasn't revealed how much Kuiper will cost, the company is preparing three dish models. A standard model promises to deliver speeds up to 400Mbps; a smaller, portable model can receive speeds up to 100Mbps; and an enterprise-grade receiver is being developed to deliver 1Gbps speeds.
The major challenge facing Project Kuiper is sending up the needed satellites, an effort that's faced repeated delays. The company says it’s secured “more than 80 launches to deploy that initial constellation.” But the launch deal also relies on newer rocket vehicles, including Blue Origin’s New Glenn, which is still going through test flights.
In addition, the Federal Communication Commission requires Amazon to launch half of its planned 3,200 satellites by July 2026. If it doesn’t, the company risks losing FCC clearance to operate the satellite network, although it could file for an extension.
In the meantime, Amazon plans to send its first batch of 27 Kuiper satellites tomorrow; the launch window starts at 7 p.m. EST.