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  • The Pentagon seems to be fed up with ULA’s rocket delays

    In recent written testimony to a US House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees the military, the senior official responsible for purchasing launches for national security missions blistered one of the country’s two primary rocket providers.

    The remarks from Major General Stephen G. Purdy, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration, concerned United Launch Alliance and its long-delayed development of the large Vulcan rocket.

    “The ULA Vulcan program has performed unsatisfactorily this past year,” Purdy said in written testimony during a May 14 hearing before the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. This portion of his testimony did not come up during the hearing, and it has not been reported publicly to date.

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  • Amazon launches its first internet satellites to rival SpaceX Starlink

    Amazon has successfully launched its first satellites for the company’s Project Kuiper internet-from-space service, which will take on SpaceX’s Starlink service.

    The satellites launched aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from  Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7 p.m. ET on Monday.

    The KA-01 mission is deploying 27 satellites to an orbit about 280 miles above Earth. The long-term plan is to deploy at least 3,200 Project Kuiper satellites in low-Earth orbit, providing broadband connectivity to individuals and businesses on the ground. 

    Speaking at a news release earlier this month, Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Project Kuiper, said: “We’ve designed some of the most advanced communications satellites ever built, and every launch is an opportunity to add more capacity and coverage to our network.”

    Badyal added: “We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once.”

    Earlier this year, Gary Wentz, ULA vice president of government and commercial programs, said ULA and Amazon were aiming to conduct multiple launches throughout 2025 to get more Project Kuiper satellites into orbit.

    ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno said the company’s Atlas V rocket can carry a maximum of  27 Project Kuiper satellites in one mission, while its other rocket, the newer Vulcan vehicle, can carry as many as 45 in a single mission. Amazon will also use Blue Origin’s next-generation New Glenn rocket to deploy the satellites.

    Since launching its first batch of Starlink satellites in 2019, SpaceX now has more than 8,000 of them in low-Earth orbit following numerous launches using its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. The service is reported to have more than 5 million paying customers globally.

    With Starlink now well established, it’s likely to be several years before Project Kuiper will be able to compete at a meaningful level.

  • Amazon reveals new date for debut Project Kuiper launch

    Amazon’s inaugural launch of its Project Kuiper internet satellites on April 9 turned out to be nothing of the sort when poor weather conditions prompted the mission team to postpone liftoff.

    Up until Thursday, we’d heard nothing from Amazon and United Launch Alliance (ULA) — the operator of the Atlas V rocket carrying the satellites to orbit — about a new target launch date. But on Friday, they finally revealed a schedule.

    “Kuiper 1, the launch of a ULA Atlas V 551 rocket carrying the first production satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, is now planned for April 28,” ULA said in a post on social media.

    It continued: “The launch is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET at the opening of a two-hour window, from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida,” adding: “This launch begins a new chapter in the commercial launch industry as Amazon partners with ULA to deliver the first batch of their advanced satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO).”

    With Project Kuiper, one of Amazon’s goals is to take on SpaceX’s Starlink internet service, which started in 2019 and now provides broadband connectivity to individuals and businesses via a growing constellation of small satellites. 

    Amazon’s April 28 mission will deploy 27 Project Kuiper satellites to orbit — the maximum number of Kuiper satellites that ULA’s Atlas V rocket can carry in a single deployment. 

    For subsequent missions, Amazon will also use ULA’s newer Vulcan rocket, which can carry as many as 45 Kuiper satellites in one flight, as well as the New Glenn, a new heavy-lift rocket operated by Blue Origin.

    Amazon is planning to build a constellation of around 3,200 Project Kuiper satellites by 2029. This will be enough to offer global broadband coverage, giving it a chance to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. 

    In a letter to shareholders in 2023, Amazon chief Andy Jassy said that Kuiper is our low-Earth orbit “aims to provide broadband connectivity to the 400-500 million households who don’t have it today (as well as governments and enterprises seeking better connectivity and performance in more remote areas),” describing it as “a very large revenue opportunity for Amazon.”

    If you’re interested to watch the the inaugural launch toward the end of April, Digital Trends has everything you need to know.