Spaceflight 🚀Jul 6, 2023
#Forbes 📆 Jun 23, 2023 "#Amazon says half of the 3,236 #satellites 🛰️ will be up above us by 📆 2026" - but who will #launch 🚀 them ? 🤔 https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidphelan/2023/06/23/project-kuiper-how-amazon-will-drape-the-world-in-satellites/

• #BlueOrigin / #NewGlenn : no news / tests yet
• #Ariane 6 is years late (again)
• #ULA's #Vulcan is late, dependent on #BE4 engines
All three will be operative until 2025
7.4%
Microlaunchers
2.9%
SpaceX
36.8%
They need a miracle
52.9%
Poll ended at .
Project Kuiper: How Amazon Will Drape The World In Satellites

Amazon is moving into the low-earth orbit satellite business, and those satellites will be coming thick and fast. Here’s what the company has to say about the project.

Forbes
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Dec 3, 2023

😲 #Amazon has signed a contract with #SpaceX for three #Falcon9 launches to support deployment plans for Project #Kuiper, Amazon’s low Earth orbit (#LEO) #satellite 🛰️ broadband network https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/amazon-project-kuiper-spacex-launch

#BlueOrigin #ULA #Ariane

Amazon secures 3 launches with SpaceX to support Project Kuiper deployment

Additional capacity will supplement existing launch contracts to support Project Kuiper’s satellite deployment schedule.

US About Amazon
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Dec 3, 2023
#Amazon expects to deploy enough #satellites 🛰️ for "early customer pilots" in the second half of 📆 2024. It plans to use #ULA's #Atlas5 and the yet-to-launch #VulcanRocket for the first few batches of satellites https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/amazon-launch-three-falcon-9-rockets-spacex-2023-12-01/
Amazon signs up SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches for Kuiper satellites

Amazon <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/companies/AMZN.O" target="_blank">(AMZN.O)</a> has signed an agreement with SpaceX to launch three of Elon Musk's Falcon 9 rockets to support deployment plans for its Project Kuiper, the ecommerce giant said on Friday.

Reuters
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Dec 9, 2023
Last year, #Amazon bought up most of the Western world's excess launch capacity from everyone but #SpaceX. Aside from the #AtlasV, which Amazon will lean on to launch its first batches of #satellites, none 0️⃣ of the #rockets needed to deploy the #Kuiper network have flown. https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/12/a-bitter-pill-amazon-calls-on-rival-spacex-to-launch-internet-satellites/
A bitter pill: Amazon calls on rival SpaceX to launch Internet satellites

Jeff Bezos’ rivalry with Elon Musk takes a back seat to Amazon’s launch dilemma.

Ars Technica
Show threadMichael Gemar
@spaceflight IMHO, it’s generous to refer to the “excess capacity” of rockets that, as you note, have yet to demonstrate they have *any* capacity to put stuff in orbit…
Dec 9, 2023 at 6:11pmWeb
Show threadSpaceflight 🚀Dec 9, 2023
@michaelgemar 👍😆, but it's @sciguyspace who noted it, I just cited his words. He could have added "potential".
Show threadMichael GemarDec 9, 2023
@spaceflight @sciguyspace Yep, I definitely didn’t mean to suggest that you yourself don’t recognize this distinction.