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A batch of Amazon satellites has reached a tour towards a low orbit, marking the largest stride to date in the efforts of the technology giant to reach a race to cover the planet in the radiated connectivity of the space.
Twenty-seven satellites have taken Flight to the top of an Atlas V rocket, built by United Launch Alliance, just after 7 p.m. HE Monday from the Space Force Cape Canaveral station in Florida.
The launch launches the first episode of the Amazon project, Kuiper, a plan to create a massive constellation of satellites for Internet achievements. The effort is about to compete directly with Starlink, the network offered by SpaceX by Elon Musk which already has at least 4.6 million customers worldwide.
Starlink and Project Kuiper are both part of an effort to transform the global internet infrastructure. The networks aim to provide access to the distant corners of the world where traditional broadband, which is based on underground cables, is lacking.
It is an extremely complex company because thousands of satellites, in orbit near the land and traveling more than 17,000 miles per hour (27,360 kilometers per hour), must work in tandem to keep customers’ dishes and other infrastructures on the ground. While SpaceX has made enormous progress by bringing its constellation by online satellite, the financial prospects of the company are not clear because SpaceX is a private company.
Amazon analysts on Wall Street fear the entry of the company into the market.
The big question is whether it is too late for Amazon to face SpaceX.
“Kuiper will have a long way to go to catch up to be able to serve a significant part of the market,” CNN Craig Moffett, principal director of the research firm Moffettnathanshanson, told CNN. “It seems that there is a very, very great probability that it is too late for it to be an attractive investment.”
The first iteration of the Kuiper service of Amazon will be based on a constellation of approximately 3,200 satellites.
Each satellite will orbit around 280 miles (450 kilometers) above the earth, which is slightly lower than the altitude of approximately 340 miles (550 kilometers) at which the Step of SpaceX’s Star Link Satellites.
Kuiper and Starlink satellites will operate in a space region called Low Orbit, which is considerably closer to our planet than where traditional communication satellites work. For example, companies that provided Wi -Fi to distant areas or flight services for airlines – such as Inmarsat and Carlsbad satellites, California, operate satellites in geosynchronous orbit, located about 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) on the ground.
At these altitudes, data take much more time to reach customers. This gives low altitude satellites such as Starlink and Kuiper a significant advantage in terms of speed.
SpaceX has already disseminated its Starlink network for several purposes: the constellation links houses and individuals in distant regions and provides connectivity to certain planes, VR and even astronauts traveling on board the orbital spacecraft.
It will be difficult for Amazon to try to deviate from the domination of SpaceX, in particular at the start of the deployment of Kuiper, because it will take time and money to extend the service, according to Moffett.
The simple fact of creating the first generation Kuiper system of approximately 3,200 satellites could cost up to $ 17 billion in advance, according to an October report by the financial service company Raymond James.
And even if Amazon compensates for these costs with income after having published his service, Kuiper could still cost the company a huge billion at $ 2 billion a year, according to a report on April 21 by Raymond James Josh Beck.
For his part, Moffett does not believe that Amazon’s calculation by competing with Starlink is solid. It is probably too late for Amazon to go into the investments of the United States in the expansion of internet access, and Project Kuiper can give the technology giant all the disadvantages of the exploitation of a satellite megaconstellation without many advantages.
The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, has already found himself involved in geopolitics in a way that he openly said that he did not want to be because of Starlink.
SpaceX must have been struggling, for example, with how and if it is necessary to provide services in war areas – and Musk previously faced important reactions on its comments on Ukraine.
As Amazon’s face, Jeff Bezos can be a billionaire alternative to Musk on the international scene given the increasingly hard policy of Musk and the participation in the current administration of Trump.
“I certainly imagine that NATO and Ukraine dance at least quietly with joy at the idea of ​​having someone other than Elon Musk in a position to provide capacities,” said Moffett.
However, there are alternatives, like Oneweb, based in London, which builds its own constellation of Internet satellite. And for national security reasons, the member nations of the European Union and the United Kingdom can choose to strengthen their own capacities rather than count on American services.
However, theoretically, Amazon Kuiper’s project can have a globe full of potential customers.
And there could be significant advantages for wider activities of the company, such as expansion of the user base for Amazon web services and the connectivity of the company’s shipping vehicle fleets.
But there remains a lot to see. Can Amazon compete with SpaceX on the price? How long will it take to accelerate the production of its satellites and start to scale the constellation to cover important areas?
Amazon should try to deploy its constellation fairly quickly, the first customers who should start using the network later this year, according to the company.
Rajeev Badyal, vice-president of the Kuiper project at Amazon, has traditionally kept a very measured tone when he spoke of Kuiper’s potential.
In a press release on the launch of Monday, he noted that “will be the first time that we have piloted our last satellite design and the first time that we have deployed as many satellites at the same time”.
“No matter how the mission takes place, this is only the start of our trip, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt when we are preparing to launch again and again in the coming years,” said Baaly.
