{"id":17215,"date":"2024-04-11T17:12:50","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T09:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/kuiper-satellite-network-gets-a-big-lift-from-amazons-ceo-but-timeline-is-a-bit-hazy\/"},"modified":"2024-04-11T17:12:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T09:12:50","slug":"kuiper-satellite-network-gets-a-big-lift-from-amazons-ceo-but-timeline-is-a-bit-hazy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/kuiper-satellite-network-gets-a-big-lift-from-amazons-ceo-but-timeline-is-a-bit-hazy\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuiper satellite network gets a big lift from Amazon\u2019s CEO, but timeline is a bit hazy"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"437\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/240411-kuiper1-630x437.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-818506\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/240411-kuiper1-630x437.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/240411-kuiper1-1260x874.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/240411-kuiper1-768x533.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/240411-kuiper1-1536x1065.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/240411-kuiper1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket sends two prototype Project Kuiper satellites into orbit for Amazon in October 2023. (ULA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In his annual letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the company\u2019s Project Kuiper satellite venture will be \u201ca very large revenue opportunity\u201d in the future \u2014 but he\u2019s hedging his bets as to exactly when that future will be.<\/p>\n<p>Eventually, Project Kuiper aims to provide satellite broadband service to hundreds of millions of people around the world who are currently underserved when it comes to connectivity. Such a service would compete with SpaceX\u2019s Starlink satellite network, which already has more than 2.6 million customers.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon is investing more than $10 billion to get Kuiper off the ground. The plan calls for sending 3,232 satellites (down slightly from the originally planned 3,236) into low Earth orbit by 2029. Under the terms of the Federal Communications Commission\u2019s license, half of that total would have to be deployed by mid-2026.<\/p>\n<p>When Project Kuiper\u2019s first two prototype satellites were launched last October for testing, Amazon said that its first production-grade satellites were on track for launch in the first half of 2024, and that it expected broadband service to be in beta testing with selected customers by the end of the year.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Jassy put a slightly different spin on that schedule. \u201cWe\u2019re on track to launch our first production satellites in 2024,\u201d he wrote in his letter. \u201cWe\u2019ve still got a long way to go, but are encouraged by our progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jassy amplified on those remarks in an interview with CNBC. \u201cThe first big production pieces will be the second half of \u201924, and we expect to have the service up in the next year or so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Project Kuiper demonstrates end-to-end network connectivity\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2TmM_lER1x0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Amazon has reserved dozens of launches with Blue Origin (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos\u2019 privately funded space venture), plus United Launch Alliance (which sent up the prototype satellites on its Atlas V rocket) and the Europe-based Arianespace consortium (which is gearing up for the first launch of its Ariane 6 rocket). The company also struck a deal with SpaceX for three Falcon 9 launches.<\/p>\n<p>Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology at Project Kuiper, told GeekWire last November that his team had already identified the launch vehicles for the first production-grade satellites.&nbsp;\u201cIn the near future, we\u2019ll start disclosing our launch plans \u2014 who we\u2019re launching with, which rockets,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a couple of options to start off with, but we\u2019ve narrowed it for our first year, what we want to do. And we\u2019ll share that information in the days to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though it seems likely that United Launch Alliance will handle the next launch, no formal announcement has yet been made. An Amazon spokesperson told GeekWire today that there were no updates on the timing of the launch.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED: <\/strong>Amazon CEO Andy Jassy\u2019s annual letter provides a glimpse at what\u2019s next for the company<\/p>\n<p>When Project Kuiper is up and running, the first users are likely to be the organizations with which Amazon is partnering on network development. Those organizations include telecommunications companies (Verizon, Vodafone and Vodacom, NTT and Sky Perfect JSAT) as well as NASA, DARPA and the Pentagon\u2019s Defense Innovation Unit.<\/p>\n<p>In his letter, Jassy noted that Project Kuiper\u2019s applications wouldn\u2019t be limited to at-home customers. He said broadband services would also be offered to \u201cgovernments and enterprises seeking better connectivity and performance in more remote areas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amazon plans to integrate satellite broadband into its other product lines, most likely starting with Amazon Web Services. Back in November, AWS CEO Adam Selipsky said \u201cthe possibilities for consumers are enormous, but so are the benefits to companies and governments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Project Kuiper\u2019s enterprise-ready private connectivity services, you will be able to move data from virtually anywhere over private, secure connections, and use these connections to reach your data in the AWS cloud,\u201d Selipsky said at the AWS re:Invent conference.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not hard to imagine synergies with Prime Video as well. In his letter, Jassy said \u201cwe have increasing conviction that Prime Video can be a large and profitable business on its own.\u201d Bundling Project Kuiper\u2019s broadband service with Prime Video\u2019s content could make both opportunities for profit loom even larger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket sends two prototype Project Kuiper satellites into orbit for Amazon in October 2023. (ULA Photo) In his annual letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says the company\u2019s Project Kuiper satellite venture will be \u201ca very large revenue opportunity\u201d in the future \u2014 but he\u2019s hedging his bets as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[275,4510,962,20,4336,442,21],"class_list":["post-17215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-amazon","tag-andy-jassy","tag-project-kuiper","tag-satellite","tag-satellite-broadband","tag-satellites","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}