March 29, 2024

Taylor Daily Press

Complete News World

Amazon buys 83 missile launches from 3 companies for Project Kuiper – IT Pro – News

Awesome, many things to note about this deal:

Due to the loss of Russian missiles, Amazon is now quickly buying up almost all of the remaining capacity for the coming years. Only SpaceX may be able to offer more.

– 3 missiles have not yet been launched, and there is not even a planning for the first flight. It won’t fly for at least 12 months. While the file FCC approval for Kuiper(pdf) Requires 50% of satellites to be launched and up and running by July 30, 2026 and 100% by July 30, 2029. Busy schedule!

By the time their network ends, SpaceX will have several years of experience and may already be upgrading.

– Only 12 to 27 launches from 68 to 83 are for the other Bezos company Blue Origin. Little confidence? On the other hand, only 18 of the launches (Ariane) do not depend on the supply of the BO BE-4 engine. So a lot depends on this engine, which is already 4.5 years behind.

Nothing for small businesses like Rocket Labs.

The cost of launching the Falcon 9 appears to be 30 million. These launches are three times more expensive. So the competition on price is going to be very tough on Amazon. And what do Amazon shareholders think about it?

– Good that there is competition for SpaceX on the one hand, but 3 satellite networks in LEO? Shouldn’t that be regulated? Shouldn’t we try to reduce pollution?