Amazon has announced the launch date of the first prototypes of spacecraft of the Kuiper global Internet system, which will become a competitor to Starlink. As he writes ArsTechnica, referring to the application of the US Federal Communications Commission, the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 satellites should be launched in the fourth quarter of next year.
The spacecraft are planned to be launched from a mobile launcher in Florida on a never-before-flown RS1 rocket, developed by ABL Space Systems with the support of Lockheed Martin, into a near-Earth orbit with a height of 590 kilometers. The satellites will communicate with ground-based tracking, telemetry and command transmission stations in South America and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as with subscriber terminals and a single gateway in Texas.
Amazon emphasizes that KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 will allow testing technologies that will be used in the final satellite project.
The publication notes that the first serial Kuiper satellites may be ready by the beginning of 2024 with the possibility of providing network access services in 2025. ArsTechnica recalls that the Federal Communications Commission has approved Amazon to launch 3,236 spacecraft.
In September, Bloomberg wrote that Kuiper Systems, an Amazon subsidiary, in an appeal to the US Federal Communications Commission, sharply commented on SpaceX, accusing it of violating and ignoring general rules. The company controlled by Jeffrey Bezos said that Elon Musk's company adheres to the position that "the rules are intended for other people." Formally, the proceedings between the parties are related to the orbital parameters of the satellites of the Kuiper and Starlink global Internet access systems.
Ivan Potapov
