SpaceX has completed another launch for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, deploying 24 satellites into low Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.
The KF-03 mission, Amazon’s third Kuiper launch with SpaceX, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on 13 October. The satellites were deployed at an altitude of 465 kilometres, bringing the total number of Kuiper satellites in orbit to 153.
Following deployment, Amazon’s mission operations centre in Redmond, Washington, assumed control to conduct initial health checks before raising the satellites to their operational orbit of 630 kilometres.
Project Kuiper aims to establish a low Earth orbit broadband network using more than 3,200 satellites to provide high-speed internet to underserved regions. The project began launches in April of this year and expects to complete more than 80 missions to build out the full constellation.
Amazon says data from these early deployments will continue to inform network testing and service preparation ahead of the start of commercial operations.
