Rendering of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket with Amazonas satellites.
ULA/Amazon
Amazon said Thursday it would open a new plant in suburban Seattle to build satellites for Project Kuiper.
Unveiled in 2019, Project Kuiper is Amazon’s plan to build a network of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit to deliver high-speed broadband internet. Amazon achieved a major milestone in 2020 when the Federal Communications Commission approved the satellite internet system.
To meet its goal of putting more than 3,000 satellites into orbit, Amazon needs to “build one to three satellites every day, maybe even a little bit more,” Amazon Devices chief Dave Limp said in an interview with The Washington Post on Thursday.
“We need to build manufacturing capabilities that look more like consumer electronics or automobiles and less like the traditional space industry,” Limp said.
Although Amazon hasn’t said when the Kuiper launch campaign will begin, FCC rules require the company to deploy half of its planned satellites within six years — meaning about 1,600 in orbit by July 2026.
Amazon has announced it will invest more than $10 billion to build Project Kuiper, and it already has a 219,000-square-foot research and development facility based in Redmond, Washington. The Redmond site has developed prototypes and helped with commercial satellite production, “but to achieve our vision for the project, we need to operate at a much larger scale,” Amazon said.
The new 172,000 square foot facility will be located in the nearby town of Kirkland, Washington. More than 200 jobs are expected to be created in the Puget Sound area, the company said.
The additional facility capacity will allow Amazon to enter the second phase of its manufacturing process, Limp said.
Since receiving FCC approval, Amazon has intensified work on its first two prototype satellites, named KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2.
Amazon said in November 2021 that it hopes to launch these prototypes with ABL Space on its RS1 rocket in late 2022. But earlier this month, Amazon said United Launch Alliance would carry the satellites on their debut flight, delaying the launch until early next year.
Limp said Thursday that Amazon has begun integration and final assembly of its first two prototype satellites, adding that they “should be completed by the end of the fourth quarter.”
– CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.
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