SpaceNews has revealed the launch date for the first batch of satellites developed by Amazon to provide internet services to Earth.
The newspaper reported: "On April 9, United Launch Alliance (ULA) plans to launch 27 of Amazon's Kuiper satellites. These satellites will be sent into orbit aboard an Atlas V rocket, launching from Cape Canaveral in Florida, as part of the Kuiper Atlas 1 mission."
For its part, Amazon indicated that these satellites are upgraded versions of the two prototype Kuiper satellites launched into orbit in 2023. These satellites have been equipped with advanced radars, new processors and solar panels, improved propulsion systems, and communications systems that help them communicate with each other in space.
It's worth noting that in 2023, United Launch Alliance launched two prototype Kuiper satellites developed by Amazon to test technologies for providing broadband internet services to Earth. In December of the same year, SpaceNews reported that the two prototypes were linked in orbit via a private communications channel.
In November of the same year, Amazon's Vice President of Technology announced that KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 were performing well in space, and that the company had begun serial production of Kuiper satellites, planning to send 3,200 of them into orbit.