The ambitious satellite Internet project that Amazon is developing, dubbed the Kuiper Project , aims to launch its first two satellite prototypes in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to an experimental launch license that the company presented just a few years ago. days before the Federal Communications Commission. Named KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, the two prototypes are supposed to launch on a new rocket called RS1, which is currently being developed by California-based startup ABL Space Systems.
Internet in any corner of the world
Kuiper’s goal is to launch a giant constellation of up to 3,236 satellites around the lowest layer of Earth’s orbit over the next decade to provide low-latency broadband Internet coverage to anywhere on the planet. The plan is aimed at providing connection to rural communities and other areas where it is difficult to get the infrastructure to make traditional Internet services work.
It is a concept similar to that of Starlink, SpaceX’s constellation of broadband internet satellites (the aerospace company created by Elon Musk, the CEO and founder of Tesla), which proposes to send almost 12,000 satellites into a low orbit around the Earth. . But unlike Kuiper, Spacex has launched more than 1,700 of those satellites, and has even created a beta program for hundreds of users. However, Kuiper has not yet put any satellites into orbit.
Now, the Amazon subsidiary seems almost ready to go . Last week, the company showed tests of the thrusters that the satellites will use to maneuver in space. And Kuiper says that these first prototypes will allow the company to test the same “communication and networking technology” that will be included in the final satellites. The two prototypes will operate almost 600 kilometers above Earth. KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 will house much of the technology needed to achieve that satellite constellation idea that Amazon has thought of, including antennas, modems, and aerospace propulsion devices.
About to start testing
While in space, the satellites will be used to test their ability to connect to four of Kuiper’s user terminals and a ground station in McCulloch, Texas, designed to send and receive broadband signals from the spacecraft. The entire test sequence is set to take just 10 minutes as each satellite passes overhead.
Kuiper’s choice to launch its first two prototypes on ABL’s RS1 rocket has taken everyone by surprise. In April, the company announced that it had purchased nine flights of the Atlas V rocket , the United Launch Alliance workhorse, to launch batches of Kuiper satellites. Meanwhile, ABL has yet to release any of its artifacts. The company says it aims to make its first test launch of the RS1 before the end of the year on a wasteland in cold Alaska.
