Amazon aims to launch prototypes of Project Kuiper internet satellites by end of 2022 – IT Pro – News

Amazon plans to launch two prototype Internet service satellites, Project Kuiper, in the fourth quarter of 2022. The company is requesting permission from the Federal Communications Commission to launch KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 at an altitude of 590 km.

Amazon for this Apply With the US Communications Commission FCC, the company registers Blog post. KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, among others, should enable Amazon to test the communication and networking technologies that will be used in Project Kuiper’s final Internet satellites.

The company said the two models will contain “several technologies and subsystems that will power the production versions.” The two satellites must also use the Ka band, which consists of frequencies between 26.5 and 40 GHz in the electromagnetic spectrum.

If Amazon gets permission to launch, two KuiperSat satellites will be launched from Florida in late 2022 into low Earth orbit, at a final altitude of 590 kilometers. The two satellites are transported separately with RS1 missiles from ABL Space Systems.

Once in space, the two moons will connect to four Customer stations, which the company eventually plans to provide to its customers and will be used to connect to the Internet through the Kuiper constellation. Amazon will operate these stations from a pre-selected area of ​​Texas. The stations will use frequencies 17.8-18.6 GHz for space-to-Earth communications and 28.6-29.1 GHz for Earth-to-space communications during the mission, according to information provided by Amazon to the Federal Communications Commission. Application filed.

The American company expects the two moons to fly over each “less than five times a day.” Tests proposed by Amazon include broadband tests on uplinks and downlinks between satellites and terminals. Documentation shows that taking the full test takes just under 11 minutes. When the two-year test task is completed, Amazon will do so de orbit The satellites will merge into the atmosphere. This must be done within a year of the job being completed, Amazon wrote in its FCC documents.

Amazon has been working on satellite internet for quite some time now. a company I got permission last year From the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch more than 3,200 satellites into low Earth orbit by 2029. With this, the company wants to compete with other satellite projects, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, although this space company already offers its own Internet services commercially. Amazon plans to invest $10 billion in Project Kuiper.