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Unmanned Probes is a loose fit for Communications Satellites. There might be a better one?
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https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/05/tech/ama … index.html
Amazon announces huge rocket deal to launch its satellite internet constellation
By Jackie Wattles, CNN Business
Updated 4:11 PM EDT, Tue April 5, 202201:26
Virgin Orbit CEO says their technology offers 'better economics'CNN Business
—
Amazon (AMZN) is moving its business into the exosphere, with plans to deploy more than 3,000 satellites to beam internet connectivity all over the planet. On Tuesday, the company announced deals with three rocket companies that will launch those satellites.The agreement includes two veteran rocket builders — United Launch Alliance, which is joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and European company Arianespace — as well as Blue Origin, the rocket company started by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, which is still working to develop a rocket capable of reaching orbit.
Bezos remains the executive chairman of Amazon.
The contracts include a total of up to 83 launches, which Amazon is calling one of the largest commercial launch deals ever inked. The launches will take place over about five years. All three rockets that Amazon plans to use for these missions are not in operation yet but are expected to enter service later this year or 2023. Financial details were not disclosed.
In an interview with CNBC Tuesday, Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president for devices and services, said only that the contracts will cost Amazon “billions.”
He added that the company’s goal is to launch a few test satellites to orbit within the next year or so. And, if all goes to plan, Amazon will deploy at least half the Project Kuiper constellation, or more than 1,600 satellites, by 2026. But the company can begin commercial services with just a few hundred satellites, Limp said. He declined to discuss how much the service might cost consumers.
“We still have lots of work ahead, but the team has continued to hit milestone after milestone across every aspect of our satellite system,” Limp said in a statement.
Notably absent from the list of providers is Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Though SpaceX has worked to dominate the commercial launch industry with its reusable rockets, Amazon’s space-based internet business, called Project Kuiper, is expected to compete directly with SpaceX’s own satellite internet business, Starlink. Starlink is well ahead of Project Kuiper and other competitors, as the company has already deployed more than 2,000 satellites and signed on more than 145,000 customers around the world, SpaceX said in January.
It’s not uncommon, however, for a space company to launch a satellite on a competitor’s rocket. SpaceX notably inked a deal to launch satellites for UK-based OneWeb, which is building yet another constellation of internet satellites in low-Earth orbit, the area of orbit extending out about 1,200 miles from the Earth’s surface. (OneWeb made that agreement after its previous launch contract, which involved using Russian rockets, was canceled amid the Ukrainian war.)
Bezos and Musk, however, are thought to have a particularly fraught relationship, with Musk often making his barbs for Bezos public on Twitter and their companies engaging in tense competition for high-profile contracts with NASA and the US military.
Satellite pollution is threatening to alter our view of the night sky
Amazon’s Project Kuiper has been in quiet development for years. Federal regulators gave approval for the company to launch its satellites in 2020, and few concrete updates have been shared since.Under the deal announced Tuesday, Arianespace, which has orbital rockets in operation but will plan to use its forthcoming Ariane 6 rocket for Project Kuiper launches, signed a deal for 18 missions.
ULA got the lion’s share of the deal, with plans for 38 launches. ULA will use its Vulcan Centaur rocket, which had been slated to fly in early 2022 but has been delayed by development hangups with the engines it will use — the BE-4 engine, which will be built by Bezos’ Blue Origin. The Vulcan Centaur could fly for the first time later this year.
Blue Origin will also use the BE-4 for its New Glenn rocket, which is now planned to enter service in 2023. Amazon signed a deal for 12 launches on that vehicle when it’s ready to fly.
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OneWeb Begins Rolling Out Global Broadband Service
https://spaceref.com/newspace-and-tech/ … d-service/
Project Kuiper: How Amazon Will Drape The World In Satellites
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphela … atellites/
County Planning Board sets date for committee meeting on Amazon internet station
https://www.salisburypost.com/2023/07/0 … t_station/
A Rowan County Planning Board committee will consider a text amendment to the Rowan County Zoning Ordinance proposed by Amazon Kuiper Infrastructure next week.
SpaceX’s Starlink to Amazon’s Project Kuiper: The future of satellite internet
https://www.inferse.com/555314/spacexs- … t-vox-com/
Satellite internet is going mainstream
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It appears to be time to update this topic....
Mars_B4_Moon just reported launch of two test satellites for Project Kuiper
Amazon launches test satellites in challenge to Musk's Starlink
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United Launch Alliance successfully deployed another tranche of satellites for Amazon:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/science/arti … 00477.html
Space.com
Atlas V rocket launches 29 Amazon Leo internet satellites to orbit from Florida (video)
Josh DinnerFri, May 29, 2026 at 8:09 PM EDT
3 min readWhen you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches 29 Amazon Leo internet satellites to orbit on May 29, 2026.
Credit: ULAA new batch of satellites for Amazon's internet constellation made it to orbit tonight (May 29).
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 551 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 7:53 p.m. EDT (2353 GMT).
It was the seventh Amazon Leo mission to fly on an Atlas V, and tied, for the second time, the rocket's record for heaviest payload launched to orbit — about 18 tons. Overall, this was the 12th Amazon Leo mission to fly, and it added the 29 satellites to Amazon's existing network of 300 already in orbit.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches 29 Amazon Leo internet satellites to orbit on May 29, 2026.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches 29 Amazon Leo internet satellites to orbit on May 29, 2026. | Credit: ULAAmazon aims to raise that number more than tenfold. The company currently plans on launching about 3,200 broadband satellites to orbit to compete with SpaceX's Starlink internet megaconstellation, which currently consists of nearly 10,500 spacecraft.
The Amazon Leo constellation doesn't need that many, due to its planned infrastructure of relay stations on the ground, but will still require more than 80 launches to reach the number that Amazon is striving for. Those missions are spread across several launch providers, including SpaceX, ULA, Europe's Arianespace and Amazon's own sister company, Blue Origin, both of which were founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
Starlink has a significant head start in the broadband megaconstellation race, with SpaceX launching fresh batches weekly or even more frequently on its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket while also preparing to launch bigger payloads on the Starship rocket, which is currently under development. But Amazon is picking up the pace.
Today's launch was the fourth Amazon Leo mission so far this year. Another group was expected to launch on a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket next month, but that vehicle experienced a catastrophic event last night (May 28) during testing at Blue's launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which resulted in a massive explosion and fireball, and a complete loss of the rocket. While the Amazon Leo satellites were not aboard the rocket during the incident, it is unclear when Blue Origin will be able to support another New Glenn mission.
On today's launch, the Atlas V's second stage deployed the satellites as planned, releasing them in groups of three over the course of about 10 minutes, with the final two popping free about 38 minutes after liftoff.
The rocket's "551" configuration indicates that five solid rocket boosters supported the first stage, and that the upper stage sported a 5-meter payload fairing to house the Amazon Leo satellites. It's one of the Atlas V's most powerful flight setups, with each solid rocket engine providing 371,550 pounds (1.6 mega-Newtons) of thrust at liftoff on top of the main booster's RD-180 engine, which produces 860,200 pounds (3.83 mega-Newtons) of power itself.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 8 p.m. EDT on May 29 with news of successful liftoff, then again at 9:45 p.m. ET with news of satellite deployment.
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