Amazon.com announced on Thursday that it has successfully launched its two prototype satellites for its Kuiper internet network, and that it is on schedule to begin mass production in the first half of 2024. The world’s largest satellite operator, Starlink, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, may face competition from the Kuiper internet network. After the satellites were launched, the corporation claimed to have a 100% success rate in the first thirty days. The business claimed to have successfully streamed a high-definition movie from Prime Video and made two-way video chats using the prototype satellites. In the latter part of next year, the first telecom companies to beta test the service will be early partners like Verizon and Vodafone.
“There is still a great deal of work ahead, and scaling for mass production won’t be simple,” Project Kuiper vice president of technology Rajeev Badyal stated. On the other hand, Amazon is mandated by the US Federal Communications Commission to launch half of its planned constellation of more than 3,000 satellites by 2026. During the first week of October, Amazon launched the satellites using an Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance. The competitor Starlink use its own internal SpaceX rockets.
