Published October 06,2023
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Amazon launched two satellites on Friday as a part of its plan to ship the web from area and compete with Elon Musk‘s Starlink service.
The Atlas V rocket carrying the satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 2:06 pm native time (6:06 pm GMT).
The launch was carried out by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) industrial group, a three way partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
Once up and operating, the corporate based by Jeff Bezos says its Project Kuiper will present “fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” with a constellation of greater than 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
“We’ve done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” stated Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s vp of expertise.
The firm has stated it will make investments $10 billion within the mission and has booked 77 heavy-lift launches with industrial suppliers Arianespace, ULA, and Bezos-owned Blue Origin.
The first operational satellites of the Kuiper mission are as a result of be launched in early 2024, in line with Amazon, which hopes for preliminary checks with clients on the finish of subsequent yr.
The take a look at on Friday tried to determine contact between the probes and Earth, deploy their photo voltaic panels, and ensure that each one devices are working accurately and on the desired temperatures.
The two prototypes will then be faraway from orbit and disintegrated within the Earth’s ambiance on the finish of the take a look at mission.
These providers are designed to offer web entry to even probably the most distant and underserved areas world wide, together with warfare zones or disaster-struck areas.
Musk’s SpaceX launched the primary batch of its greater than 3,700 operational Starlink satellites in 2019 and is by far the most important participant.
Musk’s possession of Starlink brought on uproar in Ukraine final month when it was revealed that he refused to activate the service for a deliberate assault by Kyiv forces on Russia’s Black Sea navy fleet final yr.
London-headquartered OneWeb is one other early entrant within the rising sector. Given the expertise’s strategic significance, governments are additionally eager to hitch the frenzy into the sector.
China plans to launch 13,000 satellites as a part of its GuoWang constellation, whereas Canada’s Telesat will add 300 and German start-up Rivada is eyeing 600.
That will probably be along with the European Union’s Iris mission — 170 satellites — and the 300-500 satellites deliberate to be launched by the US navy’s Space Development Agency.
Source: www.anews.com.tr