As part of its intentions to create a space internet service that would compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, Amazon announced Friday that it will invest $120 million to develop a satellite assembly facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
The company founded by Jeff Bezos says its “Project Kuiper” will provide “fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” with a constellation of more than 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
“We have an ambitious plan to begin Project Kuiper’s full-scale production launches and early customer pilots next year, and this new facility will play a critical role,” said Steve Metayer, vice president of Kuiper Production Operations.
In Kirkland, Washington, the business has another production plant that will start operating by the end of this year.
The units will subsequently be transported to Florida for the last-minute integration with United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Blue Origin rockets, both of which were founded by Bezos.
By far the largest player, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched the first wave of its more than 3,700 operational Starlink satellites in 2019. Another early entrant in the developing area is OneWeb, with its headquarters in London.
Governments, though, are eager to get in on the action.
As part of its GuoWang network, China intends to launch 13,000 satellites, while Telesat of Canada will add 300 and Rivada of Germany is considering 600.
Additionally, there will be the 170 satellites that make up the Iris project of the European Union and the 300–500 spacecraft that the Space Development Agency of the US military intends to deploy.
