First batch of Project Kuiper satellites ready for launch
The first batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites is due to be lofted into orbit next week.
The launch is scheduled to take place from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. It is expected to go ahead no earlier than 1200 ET on Wednesday, April 9.
The mission, named KA-01, will deploy 27 satellites at an altitude of 280 miles. Amazon says the payload will be the heaviest ever flown by an Atlas V, using the most powerful variant of the launcher, with five solid rocket boosters in addition to the main booster.
Delays have plagued the Kuiper project. It managed to get a pair of satellites into orbit on October 6, 2023, on the Kuiper Protoflight mission and, basking in the success of the trial, estimated that the full-scale deployment of the broadband constellation would begin in the first half of 2024.
That goal was missed, as was Amazon’s revised deadline to send the satellites upwards before the end of 2024.
Amazon says it has significantly enhanced the satellites since those two prototypes launched in 2023.
“We have improved the performance of every system and sub-system on board, including phased array antennas, processors, solar arrays, propulsion systems, and optical inter-satellite links.”
Additionally, the satellites are now coated in a dielectric film to scatter reflected sunlight and make them less visible to ground-based astronomers.
Amazon’s entire broadband constellation when deployed will include more than 3,200 spacecraft, and more than 80 launches are secured. The first two launches are set for the Atlas V. Another Bezos space project, Blue Origin, has only just managed the maiden flight of its New Glenn rocket, and other new launchers planned for the constellation – the Ariane 6 and Vulcan Centaur – have also suffered substantial delays.
A contract for three SpaceX Falcon 9 launches was signed by Amazon in 2023 to bolster its launch schedule.
The problem is that Project Kuiper has a deadline. Its license calls for half the constellation to be deployed by July 2026, though a request for an extension from the Federal Communications Commission seems likely.
Amazon said: “Following KA-01, we will continue to increase our production, processing, and deployment rates as we prepare to begin delivering service to customers.
“We have already begun shipping and processing satellites for our next mission: KA-02 will also use a ULA Atlas V rocket and launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.” ®
