Washington: Amazon will launch two satellites to provide fast and affordable internet to ‘unserved and undeserved’ communities across the globe.
It’s part of Project Kuiper, Amazon’s low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation.
The two satellites, to be called KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, will be launched during the fourth quarter of 2022, the Jeff Bezos-headed company announced.
“The first two satellites for Project Kuiper will be launched next fall. This is a big step towards our mission of providing fast, affordable internet to unserved and undeserved communities across the world,” the Seattle-headquartered firm tweeted on Monday.
Describing it as an ‘important step’ in the development process, Amazon said these two satellites will test the communications and network technology that will be used in the final satellite design.
The team will also test the prototype of the project’s low-cost customer terminal — the platform designed to provide fast, reliable services at a far more affordable cost.
The satellites will be launched from Florida-based Cape Canaveral Space Force Centre.
More than 750 people are working on Project Kuiper, which was developed under Kuiper Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon set up in 2019.
