United Launch Alliance (UlA) has successfully launched 27 Kuiper satellites into low Earth orbit as it begins a full-scale deployment of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite Internet network.
The mission, named “KA-01” for Kuiper Atlas 1, launched on a ULA Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, to deploy 27 satellites at an altitude of 450km above Earth.
Project Kuiper will deliver high-speed, low-latency internet to virtually any location on the planet, and should begin delivering service to customers later this year.
The first-generation satellite system will include more than 3 200 advanced low Earth orbit satellites, with more than 80 launches to deploy the initial constellation.
The KA-01 mission is just the first step in that process.
“We’ve designed some of the most advanced communications satellites ever built, and every launch is an opportunity to add more capacity and coverage to our network,” says Rajeev Badyal, vice-president of Project Kuiper.
“We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once.
“No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years.”
The satellites on KA-01 are a significant upgrade from the two prototype satellites successfully tested during the Protoflight mission in October 2023.
The performance of every system and sub-system on board has been improved, including phased array antennas, processors, solar arrays, propulsion systems, and optical inter-satellite links.
In addition, the satellites are coated in a dielectric mirror film unique to Kuiper that scatters reflected sunlight to help make them less visible to ground-based astronomers.
Once deployed, Project Kuiper could offer all Africans access to affordable connectivity.
While the first rollout will be in the US and Europe, Africa is expected tp follow towards the end of 2025 and early 2026.
On the ground, customers’ antennae will connect wirelessly to the satellite. Amazon will also have its own ground infrastructure to provide terrestrial networks.
The entire end-to-end network will be owned and managed my Amazon.