Amazon, SpaceX will compete to corner internet satellite market

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – Competition is heating up on the Space Coast as Amazon challenges SpaceX with new internet satellites.

Amazon is preparing to launch its Project Kuiper satellite into orbit by the end of 2024. The goal is to compete with Starlink and bring the internet to more people.

Almost everything in the world is online, but not everyone is.

“About half the world’s population lack connectivity,” said Tyson Lamoreux in a YouTube video on the Amazon project. He’s the VP of Network and Infrastructure with Project Kuiper.

Amazon is trying to address the issue with a new constellation of satellites in low earth orbit that will provide internet access worldwide.

“It’s going to bring internet services to unserved and underserved areas that don’t have any service now,” said Kremer.

This means SpaceX will have new competition down the road.

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“Competition is good because it drives the cost down,” said space expert Ken Kremer, who founded Space UpClose.

Both compete to provide more people with a better, more reliable internet, but Amazon is years behind.

“They’re late to the game,” said Kremer. “They’re going to have competition from SpaceX that’s already there and has over a million customers.”

Amazon is building a 100,000-square-foot facility at Kennedy Space Center for Project Kuiper launches to catch up.

The company says this will create at least 50 new jobs on the Space Coast.

“The Kuiper constellation is ultimately going to serve a variety of customers: residential broadband customers, small and medium businesses, and enterprises,” added Lamoreux.

Low Earth orbit is filling up with all those customers and new satellites, which is a growing concern as Project Kuiper takes off.

“They do present potential hazards for other satellites in orbit,” said Kremer. “That’s a real problem.”