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A spokesman for Amazon.com said on Monday that the company wants to launch its first pair of prototype broadband satellites late next month on a different rocket than previously planned, switching riders for the spacecraft yet again to avoid escalating rocket delays.
According to spokesperson James Watkins, the business will launch the first two satellites for Amazon's Kuiper programme, which seeks to provide worldwide internet access from orbit, onboard a special Atlas V rocket from the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA).
He stated that the intended launch date is September 26.
Amazon said last year that the satellite pair will be launched atop the first flight of ULA's new Vulcan rocket, shifting them away from previously planned rockets from launch company ABL Space to prevent delays in ABL's rocket construction.
However, setbacks with Vulcan have caused Amazon to switch bikes once more, as the e-commerce company faces a regulatory deadline in 2026 to install half of the 3,200 satellites intended for its Kuiper internet network.
Vulcan, which was supposed to debut in early 2023 when Amazon decided to utilise it, has hit testing snags that have pushed its projected launch date to the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a ULA spokesman.
ORBITAL RACE
Aiming to complement Amazon's web services powerhouse and compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX's more established Starlink network, Amazon has pledged to invest $10 billion (roughly Rs. 82,700 crore) in the satellite internet venture and has secured 83 launches to deploy it in orbit by 2022, marking the largest commercial launch procurement ever.
The Atlas V rocket, ULA's workhorse launcher, has lofted satellites into orbit in multibillion-dollar NASA research missions and the majority of US national security missions for the Pentagon.
ULA 2021 has finished selling the Atlas V and has 19 more flights to fly before retiring the rocket, according to ULA spokesperson Jessica Rye. For the remaining flights, the business acquired Russian-made RD-180 engines in bulk and has no plans to order more.
It was unclear if the Atlas V launch scheduled for September counted as one of the nine already acquired by Amazon.
