In Amazon’s competition with SpaceX in orbit, the company is getting a helping hand from its main rival, SpaceX, which will launch the next batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper Internet satellites into the sky on Wednesday.
The flock of 24 Kuiper Internet satellites will climb aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before dawn. The mission, dubbed KF-01, has a 27-minute launch window that will open at 2:18 a.m. ET and will lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Upon completion, the total number of Kuiper satellites in orbit will increase to 78. Ultimately, Amazon plans to deploy more than 3,200 spacecraft in its first-generation constellation in low Earth orbit, aiming to stake a serious claim in the satellite internet market – a market currently dominated by the Starlink network of approximately 8,000 satellites.
While Kuiper and SpaceX may be strange bedfellows, Jeff Bezos’ Amazon signed a three-launch deal with SpaceX back in December 2023. The deal came just two months after the e-commerce giant faced a shareholder lawsuit over an earlier decision not to consider SpaceX for its first round of lucrative launch contracts, even though the Falcon 9 is the most reliable rocket flying today.
The catch is that at least half of Kuiper’s initial grouping must be deployed by the end of July 2026, according to the FCC license. The clock is ticking: among the other selected launch service providers – United Launch Alliance (ULA), Arianespace and Blue Origin – only ULA has an operational rocket that can put satellites into orbit. ULA launched the first two batches of Kuiper satellites; the first batch was launched in April.
Blue Origin, Bezos’ other company, will eventually carry Kuiper satellites on its massive New Glenn rocket, but so far it has only made one flight and has failed to recover its booster. The second launch is currently scheduled for August 15.
