Rendering of a United Release Alliance’ Atlas V rocket wearing Amazon satellites.
ULA/Amazon
Amazon stated on Thursday it’ll open a brand new plant in a Seattle suburb to construct satellites for Venture Kuiper.
Venture Kuiper, unveiled in 2019, is Amazon’s plan to construct a community of three,236 satellites in low Earth orbit to supply high-speed broadband web. Amazon notched a key milestone in 2020 when the Federal Communications Fee licensed the satellite tv for pc web gadget.
As a way to meet its goal of having 3,000-plus satellites into orbit, Amazon will wish to construct one to a few satellites “each unmarried day, perhaps even a bit greater than that,” Amazon gadgets leader Dave Limp stated in an interview with The Washington Put up on Thursday.
“We need to construct the producing functions that appears extra like client electronics or vehicles and not more like the standard area business,” Limp stated.
Even though Amazon has now not stated when the Kuiper release marketing campaign will start, FCC regulations require the corporate to deploy part of its deliberate satellites inside of six years – that means about 1,600 in orbit through July 2026.
Amazon has stated it plans to speculate greater than $10 billion into construction Venture Kuiper, and it already has a 219,000-square-foot analysis and building facility based totally in Redmond, Washington. The Redmond website has evolved prototypes and assisted with business satellite tv for pc manufacturing, “however to ship on our imaginative and prescient for the mission, we wish to function on a miles higher scale,” Amazon stated.
The brand new 172,000-square-foot manufacturing unit can be positioned within the within reach town of Kirkland, Washington. It is anticipated to create greater than 200 jobs within the Puget Sound area, the corporate stated.
The extra plant capability will allow Amazon to go into the second one segment of its production procedure, Limp stated.
Since receiving FCC approval, Amazon has ramped up paintings on its first two prototype satellites, known as KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2.
Amazon stated in November 2021 that it was hoping to release the ones prototypes with ABL House on its RS1 rocket in past due 2022. However previous this month, Amazon stated United Release Alliance would elevate the satellites on their debut flight, delaying the release to early subsequent yr.
Limp stated Thursday that Amazon has began integration and ultimate meeting of its first two prototype satellites, including they “must be completed through the top of This fall.”
— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this record.
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