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Hot on SpaceX’s heels, Amazon is launching their own satellite constellation.

In April of last year, Amazon announced Project Kuiper, a constellation of satellites that would be launched into Earth’s low orbit in order to provide wireless high-speed internet to households that aren’t zoned for strong connections. They’ve been working on setting up bones of the project, but couldn’t actually start until they received the official go-ahead from the FCC. Today, Amazon finally received the green light, which means Project Kuiper is officially on.


Over an indeterminate period of time, Amazon plans to launch approximately 3,236 satellites. These satellites, when networked, will broadcast high-speed, low-latency internet service directly to consumers, though according to Amazon, they also plan to team up with various internet providers to offer options for satellite LTE and 5G service. Amazon is planning to invest at least $10 billion into this process, which the company claims will generate a large quantity of new jobs in the US and elsewhere, since they will need to build some new ground infrastructure.

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Amazon’s primary competitor in this young sector is Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is currently in the process of launching satellites for its own Starlink satellite internet service. It will take time and money to catch up to SpaceX’s efforts, but Amazon has already begun putting the pieces together. Amazon, alongside Jeff Bezos’ personally space launch company Blue Origin, have already opened an R&D facility in Redmond, Washington that will be entirely dedicated to Kuiper’s development and deployment. Bezos has also begun establishing various aeronautic partnerships to ensure launch day can come as soon as possible.

No estimation has been given yet as to when Amazon will start launching Kuiper satellites, nor how long it will take to have the whole constellation in orbit.