Amazon will build a $120 million building for the Internet of Space project
By ForGeeks Amazon is hatching a bold plan to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink space internet service, but there’s still a lot of groundwork to be done before commercial operation. Like Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper service will rely on several thousand small satellites in low-Earth orbit, designed to provide fast and affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper service will rely on several thousand small satellites in low-Earth orbit, designed to provide fast and affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
Moving toward that goal, the company recently announced that it will invest $120 million to build a satellite processing facility at the Space Florida Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center.
Satellite Processing Facility
The 100,000-square-foot facility will be used to prepare and integrate satellites with a United Launch Alliance (ULA) or Blue Origin rocket in the last phase before launching into space from the nearby Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome.
The facility will be used to prepare and integrate satellites with a United Launch Alliance (ULA) or Blue Origin rocket in the last phase before launching into space from the nearby Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome.
“We have an ambitious plan to begin full production launches and early pilots of the Kuiper project next year, and this new facility will play an important role in meeting that timeline,” — said Steve Metayer, Kuiper’s vice president of manufacturing operations. “We look forward to adding to our skilled team of operators and production workers. These employees will play an important role in our mission to connect tens of millions of customers around the world.”
These employees will play an important role in our mission to connect tens of millions of customers around the world.
Amazon said it plans to launch two prototype satellites in the coming months to test its network and subsystems. In addition, the company will begin manufacturing the satellites at a factory in Kirkland, Washington, by the end of this year. Once manufactured, the satellites will be shipped to Amazon’s new satellite facility in Florida for final preparations for launch. The facility will feature a 100-foot-high clean room capable of accommodating the payload fairing of new heavy rockets such as Blue Origin’s New Glenn and ULA’s Vulcan Centaur.
In March, Amazon unveiled the terminals that Project Kuiper customers will use to connect to its Internet service. At the time, Amazon said it wanted a design that would be «smaller, more affordable and capable» than the ones SpaceX is offering for Starlink, though details on the price of the hardware and service have yet to be disclosed.
