Amazon’s Project Kuiper prepares to deploy its initial production satellites on Wednesday while a new four-minute video reveals the company’s challenge to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. The satellite internet market leader Starlink faces potential competition from Amazon which shows indications of developing its own satellite constellation.
The video features Nima Mahanfar who states that the design is finalized while the factory produces the antennas. The company plans to manufacture tens of millions of antennas while operating at full production speed. The company demonstrates how its dishes survive extreme temperature tests which include freezing cold and burning hot conditions.
The company has established worldwide gateway stations which serve as ground-based stations to transmit high-speed internet signals into space. Kuiper’s senior manager for launch vehicles Melissa Wuerl announces that the company has activated sites across Australia and Germany and additional locations will activate during each month. The company seeks to connect Airbus passenger planes with satellite technology in the same way United Airlines and other airlines work with Starlink.
Amazon has not revealed pricing information yet but the company developed three dish models that provide 400Mbps standard speed and 100Mbps portable and 1Gbps enterprise connectivity. The real hurdle? Lofting the satellites. The Kuiper project has faced multiple delays but Amazon secured more than eighty launch opportunities for its first satellite cluster. The company relies on untested Blue Origin New Glenn rockets for launch support although these vehicles remain in developmental stages. Amazon fights aggressively against Starlink despite its substantial lead in the market.
