Jerry Petersen
SpaceX has entered into a contract to help Amazon deploy Project Kuiper, a low Earth orbit satellite broadband network, by providing launch services using the Falcon 9 vehicle beginning mid-2025.
Amazon said Saturday that the contract involves the provision of three Falcon 9 launches to augment a total of 77 heavy-lift rocket launches already secured from Arianespace, Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance.
The multinational technology company explained that the initial 77 launch services will suffice to send the majority of the Kuiper satellites into orbit and that SpaceX will “offer even more capacity to support our deployment schedule.”
The full-scale deployment of Kuiper satellites is expected to begin in the first half of 2024. By the second half of that year, enough satellites are projected to have been launched to enable early pilot programs with customers.
