in low Earth orbit, to provide high-speed internet access anywhere in the world. The company plans to to build Kuiper, and recently .
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Called "Protoflight," Friday's mission saw United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket carry two satellites – Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2. The rocket launched from ULA's pad SLC-41 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Amazon twice switched rides for the pair of satellites before finally deciding to go with the immediately available, albeit far overpowered, Atlas V rocket for the Protoflight mission. Amazon originally planned to launch on ABL Space's RS1 rocket, before delays in RS1's development rocket, but delays to Vulcan's debut .
Information about the size and design of the pair of Amazon's satellites – with the company only sharing photos of the shipping containers that delivered the spacecraft to Florida. Even ULA's details about the launch are limited, with the info provided comparable to when the rocket company flies classified spy satellites for the U.S. government.
Last year, Amazon announced to launch Kuiper satellites, signing launch contracts with ULA, Arianespace, and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. As part of that deal, Amazon expects to pay about $7.4 billion for Kuiper launches over the next five years.
It has booked 77 launches – deals that include options for more launches when needed – from that trio of companies to deploy the satellites fast enough to meet regulatory requirements. That massive purchase has , which alleges the company snubbed SpaceX for valuable satellite launch contracts because of personal rivalry with .
Amazon is playing catch up to SpaceX, which has grown its Starlink satellite internet service to more than 2 million customers. Crucially, SpaceX says it is it sells with the service, and the more than 5,000 satellites its launched so far now serve consumer, enterprise, and government customers.
Earlier this week, Amazon reiterated that its first production Kuiper satellites are on track to launch in the first half of next year – with plans to begin beta testing the network with customers by the end of 2024.
Protoflight represents an "end-to-end" test of Kuiper. Amazon will look to verify the prototype satellites can connect to ground antennas and relay that connectivity on to its small customer terminals.
This year that it plans to sell to Kuiper customers. The company has yet to say what it expects to charge customers for the hardware or service. saw download speeds of up to 400 Mbps.
The company's – in the Washington cities of Redmond and Kirkland. Amazon has other locations in San Diego, Austin, Texas, New York City and Washington, D.C.
