Amazon to Launch Thousands of Satellites to Provide Global Internet

    1
    626

    In case you are wishing to switch on the TV to know if the above headline is true, don’t bother to. You will not find it there. But that doesn’t make it fake news, no matter how crazy it may sound. Amazon has now confirmed its ‘Project Kuiper’ initiative. Amazon plans to launch a constellation of 3,236 satellites into low Earth orbit in order to provide internet to “unserved and underserved communities around the world.”

    Amazon Satellites Internet

    This different version of the space race which many of the tech giants have started has been a really interesting thing to look at. Apart from the aims of conquering space or lower-earth orbits by space tourism or even providing the basis for a Mars expedition, providing internet to the masses has been a big agenda. Now months after the Amazon’s rumored involvement in this new line of possible business, it has finally been confirmed. Project Kuiper initiative first came to light after GeekWire spotted that Kuiper Systems LLC recently made three sets of filings with the ITU, the international organization in charge of coordinating satellite orbits. Amazon confirmed that Kuiper Systems is one of its projects.

    Many other details regarding the basics of the project have been revealed along with the number of satellites. The details of the positioning planning in order to obtain maximum coverage have also been revealed. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos also owns Blue Origin, whose “vision is a future where millions of people are living and working in space.” This factor may also provide a big help in providing Amazon with its goals. It may help in the launching of the satellites, but how they are planning to procure these satellites is still a question. A third-party involvement may also be involved in this case.

    Jeff Bezos
    Jeff Bezos with a Blue Origin concept capsule

    If Amazon does manage to achieve feasibility with this initiative, some tough competition awaits for them. Due to the similar ideas which other companies have put forward in the past, this arena might just become a bit more crowded. Unlike traditional satellite internet, these plans involve the use of satellites in low Earth orbit, which can be operated cheaply and with lower latencies. SpaceX has plans to launch as many as 12,000 satellites as part of its Starlink constellation, OneWeb wants to launch 650 satellites, and Facebook is also developing an internet satellite of its own.

    How and when does this plan moves into its execution phase is a big question. There are a lots of things to be taken into consideration. The first and foremost being the amount of space junk that seems to be just increasing with each passing year.

    Further Reading:

    1 COMMENT

    Leave a Reply