Space Industry and Business News
INTERNET SPACE
Amazon's challenge to Musk's Starlink to have first launch
Amazon's challenge to Musk's Starlink to have first launch
by AFP Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Oct 6, 2023

Amazon is set to launch two satellites on Friday, in its first test mission as part of its plan to deliver the internet from space and compete with Elon Musk's Starlink service.

The launch window for the Atlas V rocket from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) hub at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is scheduled to open for two hours at 2:00 pm local time (1800 GMT).

Once up and running, the company founded by Jeff Bezos says its Project Kuiper will provide "fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world," with a constellation of more than 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).

"This is Amazon's first time putting satellites into space, and we're going to learn an incredible amount regardless of how the mission unfolds," said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper's vice president of technology.

The first operational satellites of the Kuiper project are due to be launched in early 2024, according to Amazon, which hopes for initial tests with customers at the end of next year.

The test on Friday will attempt to make contact with probes from Earth, deploy their solar panels, and confirm that all instruments are operating correctly and at the desired temperatures.

The two prototypes will be removed from orbit and disintegrated in the Earth's atmosphere at the end of the test mission.

Musk's SpaceX launched the first batch of its more than 3,700 operational Starlink satellites in 2019 and is by far the biggest player. London-headquartered OneWeb is another early entrant in the emerging sector.

These services are designed to provide internet access to even the most remote and underserved areas around the world, including war zones or disaster-struck areas.

Musk's ownership of Starlink caused uproar in Ukraine last month when it was revealed that he refused to turn on the service for a planned attack by Kyiv forces on Russia's Black Sea navy fleet last year.

Given the technology's strategic importance, governments are also keen to join the rush into the sector.

China plans to launch 13,000 satellites as part of its GuoWang constellation, while Canada's Telesat will add 300 and German start-up Rivada is eyeing 600.

That will be in addition to the European Union's Iris project -- 170 satellites -- and the 300-500 satellites planned to be launched by the US military's Space Development Agency.

Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
INTERNET SPACE
Meta plans to charge Europeans for ad free Facebook and Instagram: source
Washington (AFP) Oct 3, 2023
Meta is proposing to offer European users a subscription-based version of Instagram and Facebook if they would rather not be tracked for ads, a source said on Tuesday. The idea, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes as the social media giant seeks to comply with a growing list of EU regulations designed to curb the power of US big tech. The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg makes its billions of dollars in profit by offering advertisers highly individualized data on users, but new Eu ... read more

INTERNET SPACE
Physicists coax superconductivity and more from quasicrystals

$9.5 bn of key metals in overlooked electronic waste: UN

Spire Global selected by accelerate digitalization across the maritime industry

Making more magnetism possible with topology

INTERNET SPACE
US Army awards Comtech $48M for future EDIM SATCOM solutions

BlueHalo expands US satellite operation capacity under Space Force SCAR Program

SSC partners with Johns Hopkins for software best practices in protected SATCOM

Picogrid releases smallest AI-Enabled Command Station deployable in minutes

INTERNET SPACE
INTERNET SPACE
Trimble and Kyivstar to provide GNSS correction services in Ukraine

Galileo becomes faster for every user

Present and future of satellite navigation

New Galileo station goes on duty

INTERNET SPACE
RTX develops solid-state circuit breaker for NASA's hybrid-electric aircraft

Airbus Helicopters pioneers user-friendly ways to fly eVTOLs

Russian defence minister calls to speed up bomber production

Climate scientist 'could lose job' for refusing to fly

INTERNET SPACE
Illuminating errors creates a new paradigm for quantum computing

Taiwan to probe firms over Huawei chip plants in China

Simulations reveal the atomic-scale story of qubits

EU moves to protect sensitive tech from rivals, China

INTERNET SPACE
Hawaii gets $8M for new space tech to measure Earth's chemical composition

Ozone hole goes large again

NASA selects Umbra for their CSDA Program

EU agrees to eliminate climate warming 'F-gases' by 2050

INTERNET SPACE
Toxic storms blamed on climate change cloud Tajikistan

UN conference adopts plan to reduce chemicals harm

Vietnam jails climate activist for tax evasion; Thai court drops charges over murdered activist

US adopts plan to phase out single-use plastics at national parks

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.