Project Kuiper, Amazon’s space broadband initiative, is inching closer to reality. A recent Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing shows Amazon is attempting to acquire regulatory approval from the U.S. government to send thousands of internet satellites into space.
The Seattle-based cloud and retail giant applied to the FCC on July 4th, says CNET.
The existence of Project Kuiper came into media spotlight back in April. According to GeekWire, the filings at International Telecommunication Union show the ambitious initiative will launch 3,236 Ka-band satellites into low Earth orbit.
The deployment will commence at three altitudes: 784 satellites will settle at 590 km, 1,296 at 610 km and 1,156 at 630 km.
However, Amazon is not the only company attempting to bring internet coverage to isolated areas across the globe. SpaceX’s Starlink program launched 60 satellites into orbit on May 23rd with more to follow. Boeing, Telesat and OneWeb are also in the race.
While SpaceX is ahead in its deployment schedule against Amazon, the company recently discovered 5 percent of its orbiting Starlink satellites have failed. The space advocacy group Secure World Foundation told Forbes that 5 percent is on the lower side, but it nevertheless indicates room for reliability improvement for a project of such calibre.
