Amazon’s Project Kuiper, a rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink, is progressing towards its launch as the company announced the construction of a new $120 million satellite-processing facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The project aims to provide fast and affordable satellite broadband to areas with limited internet options.
Projected to launch its first satellites in the coming months, Project Kuiper plans to offer the first customer pilots in the following year. The initiative, which received FCC satellite licensing in 2020, is an Amazon project and is closely related to Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The ambitious initiative aims to deploy a constellation of 3,236 satellites to provide comprehensive broadband coverage for rural users. While consumer pricing is yet to be revealed, Amazon emphasizes that affordability is a key principle of Project Kuiper, and it plans to offer multiple speed and pricing tiers.
The satellites for Project Kuiper will be assembled at a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Kirkland, Washington, by the end of 2023. The new satellite-processing facility in Florida will receive the satellite shipments and conduct the final preparations before commercial deployment. Amazon has secured launches from Blue Origin, Arianespace, and United Launch Alliance (ULA), with most satellites deploying from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, located near the new processing facility.
Amazon anticipates significant job creation through Project Kuiper, with over 1,400 people already working on the project. The company expects the initiative to support thousands of suppliers and highly skilled jobs, especially in states like Alabama, Florida, and Colorado.
