Amazon yesterday announced that it has purchased six more launches from Arianespace to use its Ariane-6 rocket to launch Leo satellites, raising the total launches on the contract to 24.

Amazon Leo is expanding its launch commitment with Arianespace, adding six new Ariane 6 contracts and bringing total contracted launch capacity from 18 to 24 launches. Amazon Leo is a key customer for Arianespace, the world’s first commercial launch service provider, and the new agreement extends what was already the largest commercial contract in the company’s history. The expanded commitment provides a long-term demand signal that supports the continued ramp-up of Ariane 6 and helps Arianespace grow launch capacity for commercial and institutional customers.

Amazon presently has 396 Leo satellites in orbit and, according to its FCC license, it must place another 2636 in orbit by July 30, 2029 or else the constellation’s total satellite count will be truncated. The problem is that, of the five rockets Amazon has hired to launch these satellites, two are grounded and one is retired.

• Arianespace’s Ariane-6 rocket: 24 launches (3 completed)
• SpaceX’s Falcon-9: 13 launches (3 completed)
• Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket: 24 launches (reduced from 27) [GROUNDED]
• ULA’s Vulcan rocket: 39 launches [GROUNDED]
• ULA’s Atlas-5 rocket: 8 launches (8 completed) [RETIRED]

It is therefore not surprising Amazon has bought more Ariane-6 launches, especially because Arianespace has been working with Amazon to both increase the number of satellites launched on each flight as well as speed up the cadence between launches.

Whether Amazon can get the required satellites into orbit by the 2029 deadline however remains uncertain. Of these rocket companies, only SpaceX has shown the ability to launch at the pace required. Blue Origin hopes to get New Glenn flying again by the end of the year, but doing launches as frequently as once per month will be unlikely for quite awhile. Meanwhile neither ULA nor Northrop Grumman have provided any recent updates on when the nozzle issue on Northrop Grumman’s strap-on solid-fueled boosters will be fixed. And that rocket was intended as Amazon’s mainstay for launching its Leo satellites.