Amazon launches 27 satellites for global Internet, which will become a competitor to Starlink
30 April 11:30
Amazon has launched 27 Internet satellites into low Earth orbit, which will be the start of a project to create a large-scale Kuiper satellite constellation. This is reported by AP, "Komersant Ukrainian" informs
The United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket launched on April 28 from Cape Canaveral in Florida. In the coming weeks, 27 vehicles will reach an altitude of 630 km.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched the first big batch of satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper broadband constellation into low Earth orbit today (April 28). https://t.co/TXHqPIJQJV
– SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) April 28, 2025
Amazon, founded by Jeff Bezos, plans to launch more than 3,200 of these satellites into orbit to provide global broadband Internet access. According to Amazon, the new version of the satellites has received “significant improvements” compared to the October 2023 test samples. Amazon has reserved dozens of ULA and Blue Origin rockets for more than 80 future missions.
The project is to become a competitor to Elon Musk’s Starlink from SpaceX. The latter has already launched more than 8,000 satellites, with more than 7,200 vehicles currently in orbit, Space.com reports. The European operator OneWeb has hundreds of satellites at higher altitudes.
According to Amazon, the Kuiper project is expected to start providing Internet coverage to customers in late 2025.
