American online retail giant Amazon has officially entered the satellite internet market. On Monday, the company launched its first internet satellites.
This move comes after billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink made a strong mark in this field. Now, billionaire Jeff Bezos’s company Amazon is also stepping into the competition, where Starlink currently dominates.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carried 27 satellites from Amazon’s Project Kuiper into Earth’s orbit. These satellites are expected to reach about 630 kilometers above the Earth.
Earlier in 2023, Amazon had launched two test satellites. Project officials said that after those tests, they made major improvements and developed a new version of the satellites. To avoid problems for astronauts, the new satellites are covered with a thin mirror-like layer.
There is now a race among companies to launch satellite internet services, which has raised concerns among scientists about the overcrowding of satellites in low Earth orbit.
Jeff Bezos also owns a rocket company called Blue Origin. Amazon plans to launch over 3,200 internet satellites to provide high-speed internet to every corner of the world.
Amazon is in direct competition with Elon Musk’s Starlink, which has already launched over 8,000 satellites since 2019. More than 7,000 of these Starlink satellites are still orbiting about 550 kilometers above Earth. Meanwhile, European company OneWeb has hundreds of satellites in even higher orbits.
For Project Kuiper, Amazon has purchased dozens of rockets from United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin.
