[ad_1]
An artist’s rendering of the Project Kuiper satellite processing facility in Florida.
Amazon
Amazon The tech giant announced Friday that the company will invest $120 million to build a satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the company prepares to launch the first Project Kuiper internet satellites.
The facility will be built at the launch and landing facility that was once the landing site for NASA’s space shuttle flights. The LLF is now leased and operated by Space Florida, which serves as the space economy development arm of the state.
Related investment news
“I’m thrilled that Amazon is the first anchor tenant to be named (at the LLF),” Space Florida CEO Frank DiBello told CNBC. “It’s a testament to the fact that we, though, view the entire country as an ecosystem that supports space.”
Project Kuiper is Amazon’s plan to build a network of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit, to provide high-speed Internet access anywhere in the world. The 100,000-square-foot processing facility will be one of the final steps before the satellites reach orbit, preparing them for launch on United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin rockets that are owned separately by Jeff Bezos.
“We will finish construction at the end of 2024. We will be processing our first production satellites through this facility in early 2025,” Steve Metayer, Amazon’s vice president of production operations at Kuiper, told CNBC.
Subscribe here to receive weekly issues of the CNBC Investing in Space newsletter.
Last year, Amazon announced the largest corporate rocket deal in industry history to launch its own satellites. It booked 77 launches — deals that included options for more when needed — from a variety of companies to deploy satellites fast enough to meet regulatory requirements.
The “highly compact” version of the Kuiper project
Amazon
The company said Amazon hopes to launch its first two Kuiper satellites “in the coming months” — but that depends on when the rocket the spacecraft will be riding on becomes ready.
According to Metayer, Amazon still plans to move prototypes at the inaugural launch of ULA’s Vulcan rocket, which was recently pushed back to the fourth quarter. Although Amazon “can work with” Vulcan’s new timeline, Metayer said the company is “looking into all of our options to get the prototypes out in time.”
Kuiper prototypes have actually flown rounds once before, switching from ABL’s RS1 missile to a Vulcan missile.
Amazon said Project Kuiper currently employs more than 1,400 people. The company’s main Kuiper facilities are located near Seattle – in the cities of Redmond and Kirkland. Amazon has other locations in San Diego, Austin, Texas, New York, and Washington, DC
“We go where the talent is,” said Mattier.
[ad_2]
