Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
It would appear that Amazon is making major investments to create what could be a new internet network service, as well as a direct competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink. The company has announced a $120 million investment in a facility in Florida near Cape Canaveral which will serve as the foundation for Project Kuiper. With said project, Amazon hopes to be able to launch thousands of low-orbit satellites which will be able to provide high-speed internet service to anywhere in the world.
Amazon announced details on Project Kuiper and the $120 million Florida facility investment in a press release on its website on July 21, 2023. The investment is meant to produce a 100,000-square-foot facility that features a 100-foot tall high bay for the payload that Amazon will be aiming to send into orbit with the help of separate Jeff Bezos space venture, Blue Origin. Ultimately, Amazon’s early goal is to put a network of 3,236 satellites in orbit that will serve as the service provider for Project Kuiper and deliver internet service worldwide.
Looking at the details of Amazon’s announcement, it would appear that Project Kuiper stands to be a direct competitor to Elon Musk and SpaceX’s Starlink internet. Starlink is similarly a satellite internet service built with the express purpose of providing internet no matter where users are in the world. Amazon shared that it already has a force of around 1,400 employees in offices in Washington D.C., Austin, New York City, and San Diego working on Kuiper. The company claims to have already gathered 77 heavy-lift launch vehicles to help deploy Kuiper’s satellite network when it’s ready.
With so much being invested into this project, it will be interesting to see what comes of Project Kuiper at Amazon over the next few years. Stay tuned for more details here at Shacknews as they drop.