Kuiper Systems LLC, also known as Project Kuiper, is a subsidiary of Amazon that was established in 2019 to deploy a large satellite internet constellation to provide low-latency broadband connectivity.[2][3] The name Kuiper was a company codename for the project inspired by the Kuiper belt.
The Federal Communications Commission granted Amazon approval to deploy a constellation of 3,236 satellites into low Earth orbit.[4]Deployment is planned in five phases, and internet service will begin once the first 578 satellites are launched. Under its granted FCC license, Amazon is required to launch and operate half of its satellites no later than July 30, 2026, and must launch and operate the remaining satellites no later than July 30, 2029.[5]As of January2025[update], only two prototype satellites have been launched.
Amazon has purchased 92 rocket launches with United Launch Alliance, ArianeGroup, and Blue Origin (the latter owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos)[6] for a total of over US$10 billion. In 2024, the company bought additional launches from SpaceX, which operates the competing Starlink satellite internet constellation.[7]
History
In April 2019, Amazon officials announced that they would fund and deploy Project Kuiper, a large satellite constellation, to provide broadband internet service.[2][3] Officials said the project would "offer broadband service through partnerships with other companies", including to "tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet", although it remains unclear whether service will be offered directly to consumers.[8]
The president of Kuiper Systems, Rajeev Badyal, was a former vice president of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation. Fired by Elon Musk in 2018, Badyal soon afterward started Kuiper along with other ex-SpaceX employees.[8][9]
In December 2019, it was reported that Amazon was asking the FCC to waive requirements (e.g., to have applied by 2016) that SpaceX and OneWeb had to follow in order to get their large satellite internet constellations licensed.[10]
In July 2020, Amazon received FCC authorization to orbit a constellation of 3,236 satellites, provided, among other conditions, that they not interfere with previously authorized satellite ventures. Company officials said they would spend $10 billion on the effort.[11][12] It was expected to take up to a decade to fully deploy all 3,236 planned satellites.
In December 2020, Amazon unveiled a low-cost flat-panel antenna for the Project Kuiper satellites. It is a Ka-bandphased-array antenna that is much smaller than traditional designs for antennas that operate at 17–30 GHz. The antenna will be ~30cm (12in) in width and is expected to support up to 400 megabits per second of data bandwidth at less than 20% of the cost of traditional state-of-the-art flat-panel antennas.[13] Amazon also announced that they intend to be "launch agnostic" and would not plan to exclusively use launch capacity from Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company, but rather were open to launch capability offers from all providers.[13]
In April 2022, Amazon announced contracts with three launch providers for 83 launches over the next decade.[16] They include 18 launches of the European Ariane 6, 12 launches of Blue Origin's New Glenn (with options for 15 additional flights), and 38 launches on the Vulcan launch vehicle from United Launch Alliance.[6] Amazon previously announced that it had purchased the final nine Atlas V rocket launches from ULA before its retirement.[6]
In August 2023, a lawsuit was filed by an Amazon shareholder, Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund, against the company claiming the Amazon board of directors acted in bad faith when procuring the approximately $10 billion in launch contracts for the constellation, which amounted to Amazon's second-largest capital expenditure to date.[17][18] Contracts to Blue Origin, owned by Bezos, amounted to 45% of the total expenditure. The suit suggests that animosity between Bezos and SpaceX founder Elon Musk may have precluded Amazon from contracting SpaceX's Falcon 9 vehicle, which is flight proven and potentially more cost-effective.[17]
In December 2023, it was announced that Amazon had secured three Kuiper launches aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9.[7]
The Vulcan Centaur rocket launched for the first time on January 8, 2024,[22] clearing the way for the future ordered launches of Kuiper Systems satellites. Vulcan will launch 38 times for Kuiper.
Ariane 6 made its maiden flight on 9 July 2024.[23] Ariane 6 is responsible for 18 Kuiper launches.
In June 2024, the company announced a partnership with DirectTV Latin America, the partnership will aim to close the digital divide in multiple countries in South America.[24]
Technology
Satellite constellation
Kuiper has launched two prototype satellites to date as of January 2025.
Project Kuiper System is planned to consist of 3,236 satellites operating in 98 orbital planes in three orbital shells, one each at 590km (370mi), 610km (380mi), and 630km (390mi)orbital altitude.[25] The satellites are equipped with Hall-effect thruster technology.[26] Phase 1 of deployment will be 578 satellites at 630km altitude and an orbital inclination of 51.9 degrees. A total of five phases of constellation development are planned.[15]
Kuiper is planned to work in concert with Amazon's previously announced large network of 12 satellite ground station facilities (the "AWS Ground Station unit") announced in November 2018.[27] In addition to connecting to ground stations to connect to the ground-based internet, satellites will interconnect via optical infrared laser connections.
Amazon refers to this technology as OISL (optical inter-satellite link). These lasers are capable of maintaining 100 Gbps over distances up to 2,600 km among two satellites moving at 25,000 km/h. Current in-space tests have demonstrated this speed up to a distance of 1,000km.[28][29]
Multiple customer terminal designs are planned for different market needs. Project Kuiper’s standard customer terminal is expected to measure less than 11 inches square and 1 inch thick, and weigh less than five pounds without its mounting bracket. The device is planned to deliver speeds up to 400 megabits per second (Mbps). Amazon expects to produce these terminals for less than $400 each.[30]
An ultra-compact design 7-inch square customer terminal weighing one pound will offer speeds up to 100 Mbps. This design will connect residential customers for lower-costs, as well as government and enterprise customers pursuing applications like ground mobility and internet of things.[30]
A high-bandwidth design 19 inches by 30 inches terminal will deliver speeds up to 1 gigabit per second.[30]
Facilities
Organizational headquarters for Kuiper Systems are located at an Amazon R&D facility in Redmond, Washington since 2020.[31] Development of satellite prototypes and production methods were initially performed at the Redmond site. Manufacturing and satellite production is located at 172,000-square-foot facility in nearby Kirkland, Washington.[32] The factory in Kirkland opened in April 2024 and is planned to manufacture five satellites per day at peak capacity. A logistics center in Everett, Washington, is expected to open in June 2024 to supply the Kirkland factory with kits assembled from raw materials.[33]
A satellite processing and integration facility is planned in Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center to integrate spacecraft for launch aboard Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance rockets from the spaceport. The 31,000-square-meter facility is not expected to be operational before early 2025, and Amazon will use a third-party payload processing facility until its own is fully commissioned.[1]
Amazon had previously planned to launch the first two prototype satellites, KuiperSat P1 (2023-154B) and P2 (2023-154A), on ABL's RS1 vehicle, but delays in its readiness led to selecting ULA's Vulcan Centaur to carry the pair on its maiden flight. Further delays in this vehicle led Amazon to select the flight-proven Atlas V in August 2023. Protoflight took place on October 6, 2023.
1 2 Brodkin, Jon (8 July 2019). "Amazon plans nationwide broadband — with both home and mobile service". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 8 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019. Kuiper is wholly owned by Amazon, and its president is Rajeev Badyal, a former SpaceX vice president who was reportedly fired because SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was unsatisfied with his company's satellite-broadband progress.
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