Amazon's Project Kuiper test mission to launch on Oct 6

Two demo satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, will be placed at a height of 311 miles (500 kilometers) as part of this project.

The United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V rocket will liftoff these satellites from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida this Friday. 

The launch window will open at 2 p.m. Eastern Time and remain open for two hours.

Through this technology demonstration mission, the project team hopes to refine its satellite networking system further to supply high-speed broadband services from space. 

“This is Amazon’s first time putting satellites into space, and we’re going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds,” said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vice president of technology, in the press release. 

The mission will test the functioning of key systems

According to the statement, the Kuiper System comprises three essential components: LEO broadband satellites, customer terminals, and a robust ground-based communications network.

The purpose of the demo mission will be to test the functionality of these crucial components.

Following the successful placement of the test satellites into orbit, the duo will unfurl their solar arrays to generate power.

Subsequently, the team will make first contact with the satellites and initiate testing of various onboard systems. They will also track how the electronics perform in the harsh space environment.

“As the mission progresses, we will test the network from end to end, sending data back and forth between the internet, our ground gateways, the satellites, and our customer terminals,” mentioned the release.

If everything proceeds as planned, the mission will showcase the Kuiper system's overall functioning and provide additional insights for future system modifications.

The satellites will be deorbited and incinerated in the Earth's atmosphere at the end of the mission.

The release mentions that this step is a part of their “commitment to space safety.”

The ultimate goal is to deploy 3,200 satellite constellation

The demo satellites represent the first models of the roughly 3,200 constellation Project Kuiper plans to build and launch over the next six years.

Earlier this year, the e-commerce giant announced that it is in the process of establishing a satellite-processing facility at Kennedy Space Center. This currently under-construction facility will allow Kuiper Project satellites to load onto heavy-lift rockets for launch.

The company mentions that the first batch of satellites is expected to be launched in the first half of 2024. “We expect to be in beta testing with early commercial customers by the end of 2024,” noted the statement. 

The business rival Starlink currently has over 4,000 satellites in space, while OneWeb has 632 operating satellites in orbit.

Reportedly, the launch of test satellites onboard ULA's new Vulcan rocket was initially planned for earlier this year. However, the rocket explosion delayed its launch, and Amazon switched to ULA's Atlas V rocket. 

Amazon began research and development around Project Kuiper in 2018. 

As per a Gizmodoreport, it has also formed a partnership with Vodafone and its African subsidiary, Vodacom, to leverage Project Kuiper for the expansion of its 4G and 5G networks.