In race with Elon Musk's Starlink, Amazon launches $120m satellite factory

Amazon, together with state officials, Saturday announced its plans to construct a state-of-the-art satellite processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Reuters reported.

With an impressive budget of $120 million, this 100,000 square-foot building is a pivotal part of Amazon's ambitious Kuiper project, which entails the establishment of a vast network comprising 3,200 low Earth-orbiting satellites. 

These satellites are designed to provide broadband internet coverage on a global scale.

Expected to be a formidable competitor to SpaceX's Starlink, led by Elon Musk, the Kuiper internet network will also complement Amazon's already dominant web services platform.

In order to bring this vision to fruition, the Florida facility will employ a workforce of 50 highly skilled individuals.

It will serve as the final stop for Amazon's Kuiper satellites before their journey into space, following their production at the primary plant located in Redmond, Washington.

The Florida facility's significant ten-story-tall room will play a crucial role in the satellite deployment process. This space will enable the seamless integration of the satellites into rocket payload fairings, the protective shell that surrounds the satellites atop the rocket.

Amazon commenced construction on this site in January and anticipates its completion by late 2024. The company has set a target to send the first batch of satellites to the facility for processing during the first half of 2025.

Steve Metayer, Amazon's vice president of Kuiper Production Operations, has expressed confidence in their ability to launch their first mass-produced satellites as early as 2024.

They intend to deploy half of the satellite network into orbit by 2026, as mandated by US regulators.

To fulfil these ambitious goals, Amazon has secured a staggering 77 heavy-lift rocket launch contracts, potentially amounting to billions of dollars.

The majority of these contracts have been awarded by the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture, United Launch Alliance, and Jeff Bezos's space company, Blue Origin.

Amazon's roadmap involves launching several prototype satellites into space by the end of the year, with the first mass-produced satellites set for launch in 2024.

The following year, the company plans to initiate testing of the service with corporate and government customers. With such extensive investment and strategic planning, Amazon is poised to become a major player in the space-based internet industry.