Amazon announced on Friday that it will invest $120 million in the construction of a satellite construction facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center as part of its aspirations to establish a space internet service similar to SpaceX’s Starlink.
With a constellation of more than 3,200 satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), Jeff Bezos’ business promises that “Project Kuiper” will bring “fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.”
Steve Metayer, vice president of Kuiper Production Operations said “We have an ambitious plan to begin Project Kuiper’s full-scale production launches and early customer pilots next year, and this new facility will play a critical role in helping us deliver on that timeline.
“We are proud to partner with Space Florida to bolster the growing space industry in Florida and elsewhere across the United States, and we look forward to adding more talent to our skilled operations and manufacturing team.
These employees will play an important part in our mission to connect tens of millions of customers worldwide.””
Amazon plans to open a new production plant in Kirkland, Washington, by the end of this year.
The units will subsequently be sent to Florida for final preparations and integration with rockets from Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance (ULA), both created by Bezos.
Amazon is investing $120 million in new construction and high-value equipment for the facility, and creating up to 50 new jobs on the Space Coast. These Project Kuiper facilities are critical to Amazon’s commitment to spur innovation; design and develop prototype and production satellites; and prepare our satellites for commercial deployment.
Amazon plans to launch two prototype satellites in the next months to test their network and subsystems, with commercial launches and early enterprise customer pilots beginning in 2024.
