- Amazon launches its first project Kuiper -Stellites on April 9
- They are the first step in its plan to offer a new satellite broadband service
- Project Kuiper launches “later in the year” to take on Starlink
The new spaceship where Tech Giants is struggling to offer us high-speed internet from Low-Earth Orbit, warming up-Amazon has just announced that its first project Kuiper satellites will be launched next week to put on Starlink.
The launch of 27 satellites – the first of about 3,200 that Amazon will burst into space – is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. 12 one on April 9, if the weather permits. More important to anyone who attaches their hope of satellite -based broadband that solves their dead zones, Amazon says “We expect to start providing service to customers later in the year”.
Like the Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX, Amazon’s system will be a worldwide service. Tech Giant says Project Kuiper “will supply high -speed internet with low latency to virtually any place on the planet”. It has not revealed how long it will take to get its 3,200 low-earth-course satellites in the room, but says the process will involve 80 launches and that its satellite internet will be available by the end of 2025.
Amazon sent two prototype satellites into space in October 2023, but says the new KA-01 (or Kuiper Atlas 1) models launched on an atlas V rocket next week are a “significant upgrade” on them, with better antennas, processors and more. Apparently, they have also been coated in a unique “dielectric mirror film” to make them less of a visible eye on ground -based astronomers.
How fast will its broadband be?
Amazon says the broad goal of Project Kuiper is to “deliver fast, affordable broadband to communities around the world that are currently not unreserved by traditional Internet and communication opportunities”. It includes developing countries, but also regions of countries such as the US and UK, where Amazon hopes to take on Starlink by offering affordable broadband to rural areas.
During the Kuiper’s early days, you need to get one of three antennas or “terminals” (above) to connect to Amazon’s low-earth-course satellites. The smallest model will apparently give speeds for “up to 100 Mbps”, where the middle setting goes “Up to 400 Mbps”. The largest is designed for businesses and government and will deliver “up to 1 Gbps”.
These “up to” qualifiers are obviously important and we will have to wait until later in the year to get an idea of speed in the real world. For example, our Starlink Review found that it gave us 71 Mbps download speeds (and 15 Mbps uploads), which actually fit into the promised range of 25-100 Mbps.
Amazon has not yet announced pricing for Project Kuiper, so far only promised that “affordable prices are a key principle of project Kuiper” and compared its pricing strategy with its Echo Dot and four TV Stick. Further down the line, we can expect Amazon to move towards a ‘direct to device’ service connecting its satellites to smartphones and tablets, but a launch for it has not yet been confirmed.
Currently, Amazon is looking to get its first Internet satellites out into space – and all things are good, that will be the case by the end of next week.
