Tag: Project Kuiper
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NASA awards millions to SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper for satellite communications
An artist’s conception shows a NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite in orbit. (NASA Illustration) Six satellite ventures — including SpaceX’s Starlink network and Amazon’s Project Kuiper — are due to receive a total of $278.5 million in NASA funding to demonstrate next-generation space communication services in Earth orbit. The Communications Services Project is intended…
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Amazon reserves up to 83 rocket launches for Project Kuiper broadband satellite constellation
Amazon plans to have satellites sent into orbit by (from left) United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rockets, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets and Arianespace’s Ariane 6 rockets. (Amazon Illustration) Amazon has secured as many as 83 launches on three types of heavy-lift rockets to put more than 1,500 satellites into low Earth orbit for its…
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SpaceX’s falling Starlink satellites highlight concerns about the future of orbital traffic
A rocket’s-eye view shows a stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites just before orbital deployment. (SpaceX Photo) SpaceX says that most of the satellites it launched last week for its Starlink broadband internet constellation are doomed to fall from orbit due to a solar storm. Based on the company’s analysis, as many as 40 of the…
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Astronomers set up a new center to address issues raised by SpaceX and Amazon satellite networks
This time-lapse image of Venus and the Pleiades shows the tracks of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. (Torsten Hansen / IAU OAE / Creative Commons Attribution) The International Astronomical Union is heading up the creation of a new center to deal with the complications created by broadband satellite constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. The…
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In a new video, Amazon’s Project Kuiper highlights satellite broadband for folks off the beaten track
Rajeev Badyal, VP of technology for Project Kuiper, speaks at the project’s Redmond facility. (Amazon via YouTube) Amazon’s Project Kuiper hasn’t yet launched a single satellite, but in a video released this week, it’s talking up what its broadband internet constellation will be able to do for rural connectivity. The video focuses on unmet broadband…
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Amazon schedules first Kuiper satellite launches for 2022 using ABL’s RS1 rocket
An artist’s conception shows ABL Space Systems’ RS1 rocket launching a satellite for Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation. (Amazon Illustration) Amazon plans to launch the first two prototype satellites for its Project Kuiper satellite broadband constellation by late 2022, using rockets currently being developed by ABL Space Systems. The timeline for testing what’s slated to become…
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Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Verizon join forces on satellite and cellular connectivity
Amazon’s Project Kuiper will provide broadband data access via thousands of satellites. (Amazon / Project Kuiper Illustration) Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Verizon Communications say they’ll collaborate on connectivity solutions that capitalize on Kuiper’s future broadband satellite constellation as well as Verizon’s terrestrial 4G/LTE and 5G data networks. The Amazon-Verizon partnership will focus on rural communities…
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Amazon fires back at SpaceX in regulatory war of words over satellite constellations
An artist’s conception shows an Atlas V rocket launching Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellites. (United Launch Alliance / Amazon Illustration) Amazon laid out out a laundry list of SpaceX’s regulatory tussles today in a letter sent to the Federal Communications Commission, marking the latest chapter in a bare-knuckles battle over broadband satellite constellations. The letter —…
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Elon Musk goads Jeff Bezos on Twitter as their prolonged space spat escalates
The rivalry between SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has surfaced on Twitter. Again. (Musk Photo: TED via YouTube; Bezos Photo: GeekWire / Kevin Lisota) SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has fired a fresh volley of tart tweets at Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and the Blue Origin space venture, in the…
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Facebook’s satellite connectivity team switches over to Amazon’s Project Kuiper
A schematic shows the design for the phased-array antennas to be used for Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite broadband network. (Amazon Graphic) Facebook has struck a deal to have more than a dozen of its wireless internet experts move over to Amazon to work on its Project Kuiper satellite broadband network, The Information reported today. An…