The first full-scale mission of Amazon's Project Kuiper has slipped to the end of 2024, a year after the company finally got its prototype satellites into orbit.

In a post regarding its satellite manufacturing facility in Kirkland, Washington, Amazon said: "We're targeting our first full-scale Kuiper mission for Q4 aboard an Atlas V rocket from ULA." It's a slip from the first half of 2024 stated by the company last year as it basked in the glow of its successful Protoflight mission.

Amazon has nine Atlas V launches on the books. The first was used for the Project Kuiper Protoflight mission, which launched a pair of satellites into orbit on October 6, 2023. The second is now penciled in for the first full-scale mission. The remaining launches are tentatively scheduled for 2025. However, Kuiper Systems will face competition from ViaSat and Boeing's Starliner for Atlas V launch slots from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) pad.

Project Kuiper will also be using Blue Origin's New Glenn and Arianespace's Ariane 6, both of which have yet to make their maiden launches, and SpaceX to build out its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband network. Amazon says the constellation will consist of 3,236 satellites.

The first two prototype satellites are in the process of lowering their orbits prior to disposal in the Earth's atmosphere. In May, Amazon said it planned to lower the satellites to an altitude of 217 miles (350 kilometers) "at which point atmospheric demise will follow."

Amazon has not disclosed the cause of the delay. Under its FCC license, the company is required to launch half of its satellites by July 30, 2026, and the rest by July 2029. Although a delay to Q4 2024 might seem insignificant compared to how long it took to get those first two prototype satellites into orbit, it will mean that Kuiper Systems has less than two years to launch more than 1,000 satellites.

Recent research warned of the threat posed by large numbers of LEO satellites. According to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, Starlink already accounts for more than 6,000 active satellites. Adding thousands more to that figure with Project Kuiper will doubtless be greeted with annoyance by affected scientists and astronomers.

At peak capacity, the Kirkland factory can build up to five Project Kuiper satellites per day, and Amazon expects the first completed production satellites to be shipped later this summer. "We will continue to increase our rates of satellite production and deployment heading into 2025, and we remain on track to begin offering service to customers next year." ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/06/28/amazon_project_kuiper_q4/