Amazon launches Starlink competitor into space: rocket with satellites takes off from Florida (video)
On October 6, Amazon launched a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral with the first two satellites of the Project Kuiper network – Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2.
The satellites deployed into orbit at an altitude of about 500 kilometers about 18 minutes after launch. KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 will allow the company to test communication and network technologies.
Amazon started researching the Kuiper project in 2018 and received a license to deploy and operate it from the Federal Communications Commission in 2020.
This license has given the green light to an initial group of 3,236 satellites, at least half of which are to be launched by July 2026. Most of the satellites are to be launched into low Earth orbit on a trio of heavy rockets: ULA’s Vulcan, Centaur, Arianespace’s Ariane 6, and Blue Origin’s New Glenn. None of these rockets are still in operation, which explains the use of Atlas V.
