Amazon: First operational launch of Kuiper satellites delayed
Though Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy, in his annual letter to shareholders yesterday, touted the Kuiper internet constellation’s profit potential, he also implied that the planned first launch of operational satellites has been delayed.
When Project Kuiper’s first two prototype satellites were launched last October for testing, Amazon said that its first production-grade satellites were on track for launch in the first half of 2024, and that it expected broadband service to be in beta testing with selected customers by the end of the year.
Today, Jassy put a slightly different spin on that schedule. “We’re on track to launch our first production satellites in 2024,” he wrote in his letter. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but are encouraged by our progress.”
Later in a television interview Jassy was more blunt, stating that the first operational satellites will not be ready until “the second half of ’24”, with the service becoming available “in the next year or so.”
The company’s incredibly slow roll-out of this constellation puts it at a significant disadvantage. Both it and Starlink were announced at about the same time, but Starlink already has several thousand satellites in orbit, has been operational for several years, and has almost three million customers signed on. It has gotten all the low-hanging fruit. Amazon will either have to convince those customers to switch — generally a difficult thing to do — or find new customers that have so far been less inclined to buy such satellite services.
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Though Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy, in his annual letter to shareholders yesterday, touted the Kuiper internet constellation’s profit potential, he also implied that the planned first launch of operational satellites has been delayed.
When Project Kuiper’s first two prototype satellites were launched last October for testing, Amazon said that its first production-grade satellites were on track for launch in the first half of 2024, and that it expected broadband service to be in beta testing with selected customers by the end of the year.
Today, Jassy put a slightly different spin on that schedule. “We’re on track to launch our first production satellites in 2024,” he wrote in his letter. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but are encouraged by our progress.”
Later in a television interview Jassy was more blunt, stating that the first operational satellites will not be ready until “the second half of ’24”, with the service becoming available “in the next year or so.”
The company’s incredibly slow roll-out of this constellation puts it at a significant disadvantage. Both it and Starlink were announced at about the same time, but Starlink already has several thousand satellites in orbit, has been operational for several years, and has almost three million customers signed on. It has gotten all the low-hanging fruit. Amazon will either have to convince those customers to switch — generally a difficult thing to do — or find new customers that have so far been less inclined to buy such satellite services.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Seems to me that Amazon was the designated customer for the majority of Atlas V boosters remaining, of which there are about 18. Most of the remaining Atlas’ are designated to launch Boeing Starliners. What a lineup…
How long will ULA be willing to keep those boosters, and the infrastructure and expertise to launch them, ready to go? Of course the other thing these payload have in common is the ability to launch on a Falcon 9!
I wouldn’t be surprised if a major sticking point in the rumored Blue Origin deal to buy ULA isn’t resolving the issue of what to do about the committed Atlas V launches. Who ya gonna call?!
I do not know of the worldwide distribution of Starlink’s customers, but I wonder if many are in countries that are strongly influenced by China, and might be steered by the Chinese to their own satellite communications network.
F,
In order for that to happen, the PRC would first need to have a network to which it would be possible to switch. As the old saying goes, “You can’t beat something with nothing.” While the PRC has made noises about two or three possible such satellite networks, none is currently extant. It is likely to be several more years before the first such PRC satellite constellation is sufficiently populated to begin minimal service. And that assumes the PRC has not collapsed in the meantime – very much a possibility, especially if it is so unwise as to attempt to seize Taiwan by force.
I dislike Amazon for a thousand reasons.
I stay away from anything connected to them as best as possible.
I take great umbrage with their business practices and how the government lets them get away with what they do.
As for their space programs I think they are nothing more than a tax write off and a way to get government hand outs for trying to make rocket parts.
Amazon is probably counting on being able to link and tie it to some of their existing services, specifically prime video, which is tied to the shopping site.
It will be bundled in, so you can shop, ship, and then stream while you await delivery, all over their service.
That will get them a number of subscribers right off the bat.