{"id":7862,"date":"2025-04-29T03:54:42","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T03:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/amazon-launches-first-kuiper-internet-satellites-in-bid-to-take-on-elon-musks-starlink\/"},"modified":"2025-04-29T03:54:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-29T03:54:42","slug":"amazon-launches-first-kuiper-internet-satellites-in-bid-to-take-on-elon-musks-starlink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/amazon-launches-first-kuiper-internet-satellites-in-bid-to-take-on-elon-musks-starlink\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Elon Musk&#8217;s Starlink"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"RegularArticle-ArticleBody-5\" data-module=\"ArticleBody\" data-test=\"articleBody-2\" data-analytics=\"RegularArticle-articleBody-5-2\"><span class=\"HighlightShare-hidden\" style=\"top:0;left:0\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"InlineImage-imageEmbed\" id=\"ArticleBody-InlineImage-108129239\" data-test=\"InlineImage\">\n<div class=\"InlineImage-wrapper\">\n<div>\n<p>A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is on the launch pad carrying Amazon&#8217;s Project Kuiper internet network satellites, which are expected to eventually rival Elon Musk&#8217;s Starlink system, at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., April 9, 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Steve Nesius | Reuters<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"group\">\n<p><span class=\"QuoteInBody-quoteNameContainer\" data-test=\"QuoteInBody\" id=\"RegularArticle-QuoteInBody-1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/quotes\/AMZN\/\">Amazon<\/a><span class=\"QuoteInBody-inlineButton\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistContainer\" id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\" data-analytics-id=\"-WatchlistDropdown\"><button class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-watchlistButton\" aria-label=\"Add To Watchlist\" data-testid=\"dropdown-btn\"><span class=\"AddToWatchlistButton-addWatchListFromTag\"\/><\/button><\/span><\/span><\/span> on Monday launched the first batch of its Kuiper internet satellites into space after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/04\/09\/amazon-launches-first-kuiper-internet-satellites-in-competition-with-elon-musk-spacexs-starlink.html\">an earlier attempt<\/a> was scrubbed due to inclement weather.<\/p>\n<p>A United Launch Alliance rocket carrying 27 Kuiper satellites lifted off from a launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida shortly after 7 p.m. eastern, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ulalaunch.com\/missions\/next-launch\/atlas-v-kuiper-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a livestream<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had a nice smooth countdown, beautiful weather, beautiful liftoff, and Atlas V is on its way to orbit to take those 27 Kuiper satellites, put them on their way and really start this new era in internet connectivity,&#8221; Caleb Weiss, a systems engineer at ULA, said on the livestream following the launch.<\/p>\n<p>The satellites are expected to separate from the rocket roughly 280 miles above Earth&#8217;s surface, at which point Amazon will look to confirm the satellites can independently maneuver and communicate with its employees on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>Six years ago Amazon unveiled its plans to build a constellation of internet-beaming satellites in low Earth orbit, called Project Kuiper. The service <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/04\/09\/amazon-kuiper-launches-first-satellites-takes-on-elon-musks-starlink.html\">will compete directly<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/elon-musk\/\">Elon Musk&#8217;s<\/a> Starlink, which currently dominates the market and has 8,000 satellites in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The first Kuiper mission kicks off what will need to become a steady cadence of launches in order for Amazon to meet a deadline set by the Federal Communications Commission. The agency expects the company to have half of its total constellation, or 1,618 satellites, up in the air by July 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/04\/05\/amazon-signs-rocket-deal-with-blue-origin-arianespace-ula-for-project-kuiper-internet-satellites.html\">booked more than 80 launches<\/a> to deploy dozens of satellites at a time. In addition to ULA, its launch partners include Musk&#8217;s SpaceX (parent company of Starlink), European company Arianespace and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/jeff-bezos\/\">Jeff Bezos&#8217;<\/a> space exploration startup Blue Origin.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon is spending as much as $10 billion to build the Kuiper network. It hopes to begin commercial service for consumers, enterprises and government later this year.<\/p>\n<p>In his shareholder letter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2025\/04\/10\/amazon-ceo-andy-jassys-2025-shareholder-letter.html\">earlier this month<\/a>, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Kuiper will require upfront investment at first, but eventually the company expects it to be &#8220;a meaningful operating income and ROIC business for us.&#8221; ROIC stands for return on invested capital.<\/p>\n<p>Investors will be listening for any commentary around further capex spend on Kuiper when Amazon reports first-quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/video\/2023\/10\/06\/amazon-launches-project-kuiper-prototypes-to-low-orbit-as-tech-giant-enters-satellite-internet-race.html\">Amazon launches Project Kuiper prototypes<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-107313042\">\n<div role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" id=\"Placeholder-ArticleBody-Video-107313042\" class=\"PlaceHolder-wrapper\" data-vilynx-id=\"7000318172\" data-test=\"VideoPlaceHolder\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-videoEmbed\" id=\"InlineVideo-0\" data-test=\"InlineVideo\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"InlineVideo-inlineThumbnailContainer\"><span class=\"InlineVideo-videoButton\"\/><span\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is on the launch pad carrying Amazon&#8217;s Project Kuiper internet network satellites, which are expected to eventually rival Elon Musk&#8217;s Starlink system, at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., April 9, 2025.\u00a0 Steve Nesius | Reuters Amazon on Monday launched the first batch [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[865,261,371,1036,199,306,298,300,6067,11850,3316,307,11851,10384,304],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/image.cnbcfm.com\/api\/v1\/image\/108129239-17442155342025-04-09t161134z_755527566_rc2fuda37xtw_rtrmadp_0_space-exploration-amazon.jpeg?v=1744215601&w=1920&h=1080","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo5.dedicatedhost247.com\/zexo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}