Amazon to spend billions on space launches as SpaceX satellites Internet

Amazon’s Project Kuiper said it has secured 83 planned launches that will put the satellites into orbit over a period of five years. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant’s unit has yet to ship a satellite, though it has said it will launch two prototypes this year.

Project Kuiper and SpaceX, formally named Space Exploration Technologies Corp., are among businesses and government agencies rushing to send broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit, in some cases and markets betting they can replace traditional satellites. May compete with broadband providers.

Amazon’s newly planned launches depend on larger rockets still under development that should show they can fly as expected. Launch companies hired to take Project Kuiper’s satellites into orbit, including Blue Origin LLC, have faced delays in developing those rockets.

Officials at those launch companies declined to say when they might begin destroying the Amazon unit’s satellites in orbit as part of the new deals.

Mr. Musk’s space venture has jumped into a prominent building outside a fleet of satellites in orbit. SpaceX’s Starlink internet service has 250,000 customers, an executive said at a recent industry event, and has launched its first-generation satellite system to more than 1,900 satellites, according to a January regulatory filing.

SpaceX said in the filing that it is improving its Starlink satellites and Starship, the larger rocket SpaceX intends to use for Starlink deployments and other missions.

In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission authorized Project Kuiper to deploy 3,236 broadband satellites, according to an FCC filing. The agency was required to have at least half operational by July 2026, otherwise Project Kuiper could lose the right to send some satellites. The new launch, purchased by the Amazon business, will provide the company with the ability to deploy most of the satellites permitted by the FCC, according to the company.

Dave Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president for devices and services, declined to specify how much the company would spend on the planned launch, but said the total outlay was in the billions. Project Kuiper bought the launches due to the 2026 deadline, and at the same time the unit passed milestones to grow the business, he said.

Project Kuiper hired Blue Origin, the space company founded by former Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, to launch a dozen, with options for another 15.

United Launch Alliance, a company owned by The Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin Corp, has been tasked with 38 launches, including the nine launches Amazon announced last year on a different ULA rocket. The French company Arianespace SAS is expected to conduct 18.

In addition to handling Project Kuiper flights on its planned New Glenn rocket, Blue Origin is building engines for the Vulcan Centaur, the rocket that United Launch is developing and will use to send satellites for the Amazon unit.

Jarrett Jones, Blue Origin’s senior vice president of New Glenn rockets, said the company plans to deliver engines for United Launch soon and is working to have four reusable New Glenn boosters by the 2025 deadline.

Amazon’s Mr. Limp said, “Among these three providers, there’s clearly some risk associated with all of them and we’ve monitored that closely. We think they’re all on track.”

Project Kuiper is working on deals for its planned service. Last year a deal was struck with Verizon Communications Inc. to provide satellite links in US SpaceX’s Starlink to expand some Verizon networks to reach rural and remote areas, a similar deal with a Japanese telecommunications provider. Agreement has been signed.

Starlink has a head start on Project Kuiper, according to satellite-industry analyst Chris Kilty of Quilty Analytics, but he said the Amazon business has the advantage of seeing the challenges of the market leader.

Amazon’s Mr. Limp said there is room for more than one satellite-broadband winner, due to the number of unconnected and underserved people around the world.

United Launch chief executive Tory Bruno said his company will launch a Vulcan Centaur rocket for a national security customer ahead of the Project Kuiper flights. “That pressure is already there,” he said.