As a competitor to SpaceX’s broadband network, Amazon launched the first test satellites for their upcoming internet service on Friday.
The launch of the two test satellites on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket marked the beginning of a project to increase the availability of the internet throughout the world by deploying 3,236 satellites in orbit.By the end of the next year, Amazon intends to launch its service. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, and his rocket firm, Blue Origin are far behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
In 2018 and 2019, SpaceX launched its first operational and test Starlink satellites. Since then, it has used its own Falcon rockets to launch more than 5,000 Starlinks from Florida and California.
About 600 broadband satellites have been launched by Eutelsat OneWeb in Europe.Initially, Amazon consented to include the satellites on the Vulcan rocket’s inaugural flight by ULA. But since the Vulcan was unable to fly because of issues until at least the end of this year, Amazon decided to use the dependable Atlas V.
The Federal Communications Commission required that at least half of the planned satellites be operational by 2026 and all of them by 2029 in order to grant the program its license.
To get everything up, Amazon has reserved 77 launches from ULA, Blue Origin, and Europe’s Arianespace.
