Amazon arrives for the stars. As the company announced Monday, it has purchased nine rocket launchers from the Kuiper program to launch satellites into space. The multi-billion project is to advance two segments simultaneously. The schedule is ambitious and the competition is prominent.
The satellites will be launched using Atlas 5 rockets from the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Amazon wants 3,200 satellites to orbit the Earth at altitudes of 590 to 630 km. This would have previously required access to remote areas for broadband Internet access. In addition, satellites are a major boost to Amazon’s cloud division AWS infrastructure.
In the implementation of the project, the company has already launched Elon Musk’s Starlink program, which has launched more than a thousand satellites into orbit, in line with the requirements of the authorities.
In the summer of 2020, the Federal Communications Commission is demanding that Kuiper approve half of the 3,200 satellites by 2026.
For Amazon, providing broadband internet means opening up new customer groups, especially for profitable cloud business. The shareholder remains bullish for this share.
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