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Amazon's Project Kuiper Behind, but it's there

• deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
• mabbo 5y ago
  Launching on what, exactly? Right now they have 9 launches planned using Atlas 5. That's not going to get them a usable fleet of satellites. If they want to launch anything beyond that, Blue Origin must finish the BE-4: a rocket engine years behind schedule. (Either using them for Vulcan rockets or for the New Glenn). From Amazon's perspective, those 9 launches are money wasted if BO doesn't come through. I'd be ecstatic if they did, but my money is on yet another delay from them. If I had to guess, by the time Kuiper is launching enough satellites to matter, SpaceX will be doing the same thing using Starship at an order of magnitude lower cost. And I don't even think Starship will be doing real launches for years.
  • aerospace_guy 5y ago
    Amazon can launch Kuiper satellites on any launch vehicle, not just New Glenn.
    • mabbo 5y ago
      Sure, but who has capacity to take on any serious number of launches? And who can do it at a competitive price to make Kuiper anything but a financial disaster? The answer is: nobody. What made Starlink financially possible was SpaceX's lower launch costs and high capacity.