Amazon announced on Tuesday plans for a slew of launches to place a “constellation” of satellites in low orbit around the Earth to give internet connection to people on the ground.
Amazon claims that its contracts with Arianespace, Blue Origin, and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) are the largest commercial launch vehicle procurements in history.
The total cost and timing of launches scheduled to bring Amazon’s Project Kuiper to life were not disclosed.
We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the team has reached milestone after milestone across every facet of our satellite system, said Amazon senior vice president Dave Limp in a statement.
Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX has already launched more than 1,500 satellites into orbit to construct the Starlink internet service network.
Boeing entered the space internet competition late last year, obtaining US approval for satellites that will deliver internet services from above.
According to Amazon, Project Kuiper intends to bring high-speed broadband internet connection to families, schools, hospitals, companies, disaster relief operations, and others in areas without stable connectivity.
Amazon is developing Kuiper in-house and intends to leverage skills already in place in its other divisions, including logistical operations and the AWS cloud computing arm.
Musk forged a partnership with Microsoft, Amazon’s main cloud computing competitor, to leverage its Azure platform to deliver his version of satellite-powered internet service.
With Blue Origin receiving some of Amazon’s launch contracts, one Bezos organisation will be feeding revenue to another.
Bezos has used some of his Amazon fortunes to establish and support the private space exploration company Blue Origin.