Amazon announced today they’ve bought 3 Falcon 9 launches to deliver their Project Kuiper web satellites to low Earth orbit in mid-2025.
This wouldn’t be the primary time SpaceX has launched a competitor satellite as they’ve now launched 4 times for one in all their other competitors, OneWeb, with a complete of 136 satellites delivered to orbit.
Amazon recently made the choice to maneuver up the launch of their first Project Kuiper satellites from United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket which has faced quite a few delays to an Atlas V that launched on October sixth.
The addition of the three Falcon 9 launches will help Amazon to deploy their satellites in a more timely manner in case of delays with the opposite rockets they’ve contracted to launch with.
![](https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Amazon_Kuiper-Ariane-6-Vulcan-New-Glenn-edit.jpg)
The three other rockets currently contracted to fly Project Kuiper, not pictured here is the Atlas V.
They currently have 38 launches on the ULA Vulcan rocket (possibly 37 with the move to the Atlas V), 18 launches on the Arianespace Ariane 6 rocket, and 12 launches on Blue Origin’s Recent Glenn rocket and none of those rockets are currently flying. The Vulcan and Ariane 6 have each undergone their static fire tests, and the Vulcan is scheduled for its maiden flight on December twenty fourth, while the Ariane 6 is not any sooner than June 2024. Blue Origin’s Recent Glenn is predicted to launch by the top of 2024.
Amazon didn’t reveal the associated fee of the contract or where the launches would happen from, but the associated fee of a Falcon 9 launch is around $67 million, and they might likely launch from Florida.
The present plans for the Project Kuiper constellation calls for 3,236 satellites to be deployed, with full-scale deployment to start in the primary half of 2024.
Do you think that this shall be the last time Amazon contracts SpaceX or do you think that there shall be delays with other rockets causing Amazon to purchase more launches with SpaceX?