““Project Kuiper” is Amazon’s plan to launch 3,236 satellites to build a network to provide global high-speed internet.
There’s a race among several major players to build a next-generation broadband network in space, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and SoftBank-backed OneWeb.
Known as Project Kuiper, the move represents the latest space ambition from Jeff Bezos. Amazon has previously announced its cloud business will build a network of satellite facilities on Earth and Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin continues to move closer to launching space tourists.
“Project Kuiper is a new initiative to launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC in an emailed statement.
Amazon’s proposal is for a network of 3,236 satellites. Building, launching and operating the satellites will require intensive capital, likely billions of dollars. But Bezos has already been funding Blue Origin with upwards of $1 billion a year and Amazon itself remains one of the world’s most valuable companies. GeekWire first reported the filings on Thursday.
A race among several major players is underway to build a next-generation broadband network in space, as companies lay out plans to use a so-called constellation of hundreds or even thousands of small satellites. Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched two test satellites for its “Starlink” network last year, the first step toward its goal of a constellation of 4,425 satellites. Additionally, last month Softbank-backed OneWeb launched the first six satellites of its network, which plans to begin with a constellation of 650 interconnected satellites.
OneWeb’s satellites cost about $1 million each to manufacture and the start-up plans to launch all of 650 over the next two years, with rockets lifting 30 at a time.
While the federal filings do not reveal the cost or timeline of Amazon’s project, industry analysts estimate Project Kuiper will take about a decade to get off the ground. This road is littered with companies that tried, and failed, to pull off a coup in space-based internet.
Back in 2015, Facebook decided against spending up to $1 billion on a satellite that would provide Internet to under-served regions in Africa and other continents. Instead, Facebook opted to lease broadband onboard Spacecom’s AMOS-6 satellite, which was destroyed when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded during fueling before launch in 2016.