Amazon announced Tuesday that it will launch a “constellation” of satellites into low orbit around the Earth to bring Internet connectivity to people on the ground.
Amazon said its contracts with Arianespace, Blue Origin and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) are the largest commercial acquisition of launch vehicles in history.
The full cost and timing of the scheduled releases to bring Amazon’s Project Kuiper to life were not disclosed.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” Amazon Senior Vice President Dave Limp said in a statement. “But the team has continued to hit milestone after milestone in every facet of our satellite system.”
“The Kuiper Project will connect tens of millions of people in unserved and underserved places around the world to fast, cheap internet.”
Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has already launched more than 1,500 satellites into orbit to form the Starlink Internet service network.
Boeing entered the space internet competition late last year and won US approval for satellites that will provide internet services from above.
According to Amazon, the Kuiper Project intends to bring high-speed broadband Internet connection to homes, schools, hospitals, businesses, disaster relief operations and others in areas where there is no stable connectivity.
Amazon is building Kuiper in-house and intends to use capabilities that already exist in other Amazon divisions, including the logistics and cloud computing arm of AWS.
Musk forged a partnership with Microsoft, Amazon’s biggest cloud computing competitor, to take advantage of Microsoft’s Azure platform to provide its version of satellite Internet service.
With Blue Origin receiving some of Amazon’s launch contracts, one Bezos operation will provide revenue to another.
Bezos has invested part of his Amazon fortune in Blue Origin, a private space exploration company.
In a joint statement, Blue Origin Senior Vice President Jarrett Jones stated, “We are delighted to help Amazon’s ambitious ambition to bring reliable and affordable broadband to underserved and underserved regions around the world.”
rocket booster
According to Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology, Amazon’s goal from the start was to recruit several rocket launch companies.
According to Badyal, the technique reduces the chance of launch delays holding up the project and saves Amazon money through competitive pricing.
“With these massive, heavy-lift rockets, we will be able to deploy more of our constellation with fewer launches, simplifying our launch and deployment schedule,” Badyal explained.
Large numbers of launch bookings were expected to boost business in both the United States and Europe.
Arianespace, for example, uses suppliers from 13 European countries to build its Ariane 6 rockets, according to Badyal.
Ariane 6 rockets will be used in eighteen of the contracted launches.
In a statement, Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel said: “This contract, the largest we have ever signed, is a fantastic moment in Arianespace’s history.”
“This is a significant victory for the pitching industry in Europe.”
ULA received the most contracts and intended to build a second launch pad at its Cape Canaveral, Florida facility as part of the deal.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin, two American heavyweights, run the joint venture.
“This agreement ushers in an exciting new era for ULA and the entire US launch industry,” said Tory Bruno, ULA CEO.
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Categories: Technology
Source: vtt.edu.vn