Amazon’s first satellite tv for pc launch was successful, in response to United Launch Alliance. The aerospace producer’s Atlas V rocket took the primary two Project Kuiper satellites to low Earth orbit on Friday. The mission, which is called Protoflight, lifted off at 2:06PM ET from Cape Canaveral Area Drive Station in Florida.
Amazon has been engaged on Undertaking Kuiper, its Starlink-esque web satellite tv for pc initiative, for fairly a while. It beforehand deliberate to launch the prototypes by the end of last year.
The corporate sees Protoflight as a key learning opportunity, giving it the possibility to file real-world (or, extra precisely, offworld) information from area and add that to findings from lab and area testing. Amazon expects to achieve extra perception into how the community will carry out throughout floor and area. That is additionally a take a look at of satellite tv for pc processing, launch and mission operations. As soon as the mission is over, Amazon will actively deorbit each satellites earlier than they expend within the environment.
“We’ve finished in depth testing right here in our lab and have a excessive diploma of confidence in our satellite tv for pc design, however there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” Rajeev Badyal, Undertaking Kuiper’s vice chairman of know-how, mentioned. “That is Amazon’s first time placing satellites into area, and we’re going to study an unimaginable quantity no matter how the mission unfolds.”
Amazon says the intention of Undertaking Kuiper is to supply quick and reasonably priced broadband to unserved and underserved communities the world over. It plans to deploy greater than 3,200 satellites over the subsequent six years after it obtained FCC approval, and the KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 prototypes are the primary iterations. It expects to launch manufacturing satellites within the first half of 2024 and begin beta checks with some prospects by the top of subsequent yr.
In case you missed the launch, you’ll be able to watch a replay of the livestream beneath. The rocket launches at round 26:05 into the video.
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