An Atlas V rocket holding two test satellites blasted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2.06pm Eastern Time on Friday. The United Launch Alliance (ULA) confirmed the rocket took off safely, and they have now completed 158 successful launches. The project rivals billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Starlink, which uses satellites to beam a broadband signal down to Earth. Amazon said its prototype satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, are the first iterations of more than 3,200 satellites it plans to make and deploy over the next six years. Project Kuiper, which began in 2018, is aiming for the broadband service to work for its earliest customers by the end of 2024.

Source: The Times October 06, 2023 20:54 UTC