Jeff Bezos is going after Elon Musk’s Starlink with internet satellites of his very own. Amazon has set a date for the long-awaited maiden voyage of its Kuiper internet satellites and they are slated to take off on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on April 9 at 12 p.m. ET, Amazon said in a blog post.
The launch is a major step in Amazon’s Project Kuiper that is meant to provide broadband internet to the masses. The initiative was launched in 2019 and is currently set to cost around $10 billion and is expected to include nearly 3,000 satellites.
“We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once,” Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Kuiper, said in a statement.
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Kuiper is set to compete with other low earth orbit satellite internet providers including Elon Musk’s Starlink. Musk’s Starlink currently has approximately 7000 satellites which puts it at more than double the number of satellites as Project Kuiper.
What is Project Kuiper?
Project Kuiper is an initiative by Amazon to create a global satellite internet network aimed at providing high-speed broadband access to underserved and remote areas. The project plans to launch a constellation of over 3,200 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to deliver reliable, low-latency internet services to regions lacking traditional infrastructure.
The goal of Project Kuiper is to make internet access more affordable and accessible, particularly in rural and developing areas where connectivity is limited. By using LEO satellites, the project intends to offer faster and more reliable internet compared to traditional satellite broadband, which often suffers from high latency. Amazon has been working with various partners on satellite manufacturing and launch capabilities.