Project Kuiper is Amazon’s endeavor to beam internet service from orbit.
Amazon has completed its long-delayed first launch of satellites for Project Kuiper, the company’s planned orbital internet network.
A pair of test satellites aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, just after 2 p.m. ET Friday, as shown by launch footage that ULA posted on X (formerly Twitter). If all goes well, the satellites will be deployed at an altitude of 311 miles above the ground and remain in low Earth orbit for testing.
The two satellites are prototypes of the eventual 3,200-plus plans to build and deploy over the next six years.
Locating local internet providers
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s plan to build out a new service category to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet from SpaceX, which already has thousands of satellites in orbit providing internet to over a million customers in multiple countries.
