The launch date is set to the first batch of what will become thousands of satellites in Amazon’s Project Kuiper, as the company is about to play catch-ups on SpaceX and its Starlink Internet Constellation.
The United Launch Alliance is targeting the three-hour window, which opens at noon on April 9th. 27 satellites will be sent to the Atlas V rocket from the CapeCanaveralSpace Force Station space launch complex.
The KA-01 mission, short for Kuiper Atlas 1, was ULA’s first launch of the year, with Amazon’s first being purchased to put 3,232 satellites into low-Earth orbit by 2029.
SpaceX already has almost 6,500 StarLink satellites in operational orbit serving more than 5 million customers around the world.
However, Amazon is beginning to knock out as many releases as possible. It has contracted to use eight of the remaining Atlas V rockets and an additional 38 for ULA’s new Vulcan Rocket. Additionally, the company has launched releases lined up along with several launches at Jeff Bezos’ Rocket Company Blue Origin, European company Allian Spurse, and even SpaceX.
The Federal Communications Commission’s Amazon license requires that half of the satellites be placed in orbit by July 31, 2026.
So far, Amazon has flew two test satellites in the second half of 2023. But it paved the way for operational hardware production at company facilities in Washington. There will also be a new satellite processing facility on 80 acres of site at the old shuttle landing facility at Kennedy Space Center.
Amazon expects to launch satellite internet services to its customers by the end of the year.
“We have designed some of the cutting-edge communication satellites built up to this point. All launches are an opportunity to add capacity and coverage to our network,” Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Project Kuiper, said in a press release. “We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things we can only learn while flying.”
The design has been changed from a test satellite to this first operational batch, and it is the first time that they have deployed with such a large number.
“No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the beginning of our journey. We are in place to learn and adapt all of our work to prepare us to launch again and again over the next few years,” he said.
The satellite is designed to orbit at an altitude of 392 miles, turning the Earth, about once every 90 minutes, above 17,000 mph.
The 27 satellites are the heaviest payloads that have flew on the Atlas V and need to launch in the most powerful configuration to the ULA, using five strap-on solid rocket boosters.
While Amazon has already begun shipping and processing satellites for its next flights with Atlas V, ULA may prioritize the first national security launch of the new Vulcan, which was ultimately certified by Space Force last month.
However, ULA is building a second vehicle integration facility on Canaveral’s SLC-41, allowing two rockets to be handled at the same time as the backlog of over 70 launches is knocked out.
Original issue: April 2, 2025, 2:37pm EDT
