Amazon will quickly launch 27 low-Earth orbit satellites as a part of its Challenge Kuiper. The unique launch window was set for Wednesday between 7 and 9 p.m. ET (4 to six p.m. PT), however poor climate pressured the rocket launch to be scrubbed for the day.
“Climate is noticed and forecast NO GO for liftoff inside the remaining launch window at Cape Canaveral this night, in response to Launch Climate Officer Brian Belson,” United Launch Alliance stated in its reside updates Wednesday night time. “The cussed cumulus clouds and protracted winds make liftoff not potential inside the out there window.”
There isn’t any phrase but on when it will be rescheduled, however there is a mission web page for updates on the launch and plans to livestream the takeoff. You may watch the rocket launch reside on that web page or YouTube.
The launch mission, KA-01 or Kuiper Atlas 1, will probably be on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and can happen at Cape Canaveral Area Pressure Station.
It will be a giant step ahead for the mission, which Amazon introduced in 2019 with guarantees of a $10 billion funding. Now the corporate is poised to enter the race to offer satellite tv for pc web service, an area at the moment dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink, which has about 7,000 satellites. Amazon’s plans name for 3,200 satellites to be deployed over 80 launches. The corporate intends to offer web service with this expertise later this yr.
Extra competitors will enhance web companies
The literal house race, which incorporates Starlink, Amazon and different corporations resembling Viasat, Hughesnet, Eutelsat and China’s SpaceSail, might imply extra web service availability in far-flung and rural areas with restricted broadband choices. Although Starlink is the chief in house, a few of these different corporations are persevering with to launch satellites and dealing to deploy high-speed web in additional markets, resembling Brazil. With extra gamers out there, that might imply sooner and cheaper web in additional areas, though whether or not that really bears out for customers stays to be seen.
Mahdi Eslamimehr, government vice chairman at Quandary Peak Analysis and adjunct professor on the Division of Pc Science at USC, stated Amazon is effectively poised to compete with Starlink. “Amazon has made in depth launch agreements with main suppliers resembling ULA, Arianespace, Blue Origin, and even SpaceX itself, positioning Kuiper as a significant challenger because of its expansive infrastructure and vital assets.”
He stated, “Whereas Starlink at the moment enjoys clear market management, it faces growing competitors from well-capitalized and strategically agile rivals, particularly from China, suggesting the market will change into significantly extra aggressive within the close to future.”
Thus far, Eslamimehr stated, Amazon’s satellite tv for pc efforts have been promising and profitable, at the least within the prototype levels. The corporate has additionally been testing Amazon Net Providers in house. “These developments collectively underscore Amazon’s strong entry into the satellite tv for pc web market and mirror constructive early momentum in its total house technique.”
Past the way it fares towards Starlink and different corporations, the Amazon satellite tv for pc launches are vital in different methods. Eslamimehr stated, “Challenge Kuiper is not nearly competitors; it is positioned as a essential step towards closing the worldwide digital divide, promising to ship high-speed web to underserved communities worldwide.”
Correction, April 4: An earlier model of this story misspelled the title of the USC professor and Quandary Peak Analysis government vice chairman. His title is Mahdi Eslamimehr.
