Amazon Scrubs launches its Starlink Satellite Service competitor on Wednesday
Amazon is about to launch 27 low-Earth orbit satellites As part of the Kuiper project. The original launch window was scheduled Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 6 p.m.), but bad weather forced the rocket launch to be scrubbed that day.
“Weather is observed and is not expected to rise within the remaining launch windows in Cape Canaveral tonight,” the Manchester United Launch League said in a live update on Wednesday night. “The stubborn cumulus clouds and continuous winds make it impossible to rise in available windows.”
There is no rescheduling for the moment, but there is a mission page for posting and plans to take off. You can watch the rocket launch live on this page or on YouTube.
The launch mission KA-01 or Kuiper Atlas 1 will be on the Joint Launch Alliance Atlas V Rocket and will be held at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This will be a big step for the project, with Amazon announcing a $10 billion investment in 2019. Now the company is ready to compete to offer satellite internet services, a space currently dominated by SpaceX's Starlink, which has approximately 7,000 satellites. Amazon's plan calls for 3,200 satellites to be deployed in 80 launches. The company intends to provide Internet Services This technology later this year.
More competition will improve Internet services
Literally space races, including Starlink, Amazon and other companies, such as Viasat,,,,, HughesnetEutelsat and China's Suntug may mean limited broadband options in broadband and rural areas with limited internet service availability. Although Starlink is a leader in space, some other companies are continuing to launch satellites and working to deploy high-speed internet in more markets such as Brazil. With more players in the market, this may mean faster, and Cheap Internet In more areas, although whether this will actually help consumers remains to be seen.
Mahdi Eslamimehr, executive vice president of Quanandary Peak Research, an adjunct professor in the USC’s Department of Computer Science, said Amazon is expected to compete with Starlink. “Amazon has reached extensive release agreements with major providers such as ULA, Arianespace, Blue Origin and even SpaceX itself, positioning Kuiper as the main challenger due to its extensive infrastructure and a large amount of resources.”
“Although Starlink currently enjoys obvious market leadership, it faces an increasing number of competitors, especially those from China, which suggests that the market will become more competitive in the near future,” he said.
So far, at least during the prototype stage, Amazon's satellite efforts have been promising and successful, Eslamimehr said. The company has also been testing Amazon Web services in space. “Together, these developments underscore Amazon’s strong entry into the satellite internet market and reflect the positive early momentum of its overall space strategy.”
Besides fares with Starlink and other companies, Amazon satellite launches are also important in other ways. “The Kuiper project is more than just competition; it is a critical step towards closing the global digital divide, promising to provide high-speed internet to underserved communities around the world,” Eslamimehr said.
Correction on April 4: An earlier version of this story misspelled the names of UC professors and president of Quanandary Peak Research Execudevice. His name is Mahdi Eslamimehr.
