Amazon is building a facility in Florida for Project Kuiper, which aims to launch a projected 3,236 satellites into Earth’s low orbit. The company will build the $US120 million facility at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) at Kennedy Space Center.
The company announced on Friday that construction is underway, and it’s the latest in a series of long-term investments into Project Kuiper—an initiative to bring high-speed internet access to underserved communities anywhere in the world. Space Florida is leasing and operating the Launch and Landing Facility (LLF), where the Project Kuiper facility is set to be constructed. This site was previously the landing location for NASA’s Space Shuttle missions.
“I am thrilled that Amazon is the first major tenant to locate [at the LLF],” Frank DiBello, CEO of Space Florida, told CNBC. “It’s a testament to the fact, though, that we view the whole state as an ecosystem supporting space.”
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Project Kuiper in July 2020, two years after Amazon started research and development, but with the contingency that it launches at least half of the satellites by July 2026.
The 100,000-square-foot facility, where 50 employees will be housed, represents a minor portion of Amazon’s declared $10 billion investment in the Kuiper Project. More than 1,400 people are already employed by Project Kuiper, according to Amazon.
This facility signifies the final stage in the project pipeline before the satellites are deployed into space. Project Kuiper satellites will begin production at a manufacturing facility in Kirkland, Washington, by the end of 2023 and once completed will then be transported to the new processing facility in Florida. After arriving at FLL, the satellites will be sent to a ten-story-tall room where they will be fitted into rocket payload fairings, which will serve as a protective shell for the satellites.
The satellites will be shuttled to space on rockets owned by the United Launch Alliance and on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin (as an aside, both of these rockets have yet to perform their first flights). As reported in CNBC, Amazon has already booked 77 launches to bring the satellites to space, most of which will launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with open options to add more launches to ensure it meets the FCC’s regulatory requirements.
Amazon says it will launch “two prototype satellites in the coming months to help test our network and subsystems” with production on its 3,000+ satellites to begin in 2024. The company was scheduled to launch its prototype satellites in May on a ULA Vulcan Centaur, but this was pushed back after a violent explosion of the upper stage during testing in March. ULA is now hoping to send the rocket on its inaugural flight by the end of the year.
Said Steve Metayer, vice president of Kuiper Production Operations, in a news release: “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.”