Amazon Purchases Three Falcon 9 Launches To Support Project Kuiper
According to the latest reports, Amazon recently purchased three Falcon 9 launches from SpaceX. The basic goal of Amazon is to support the deployment of its Project Kuiper mega-constellation. It is pertinent to mention here that the new deal came after two months when it was revealed that Amazon was facing a lawsuit over its determination not to consider SpaceX. SpaceX is no doubt the most reliable rocket company on the planet and Amazon didn’t consider it in its first round of launch contracts due to which a lawsuit was filed against it.
Amazon Aims To Support Project Kuiper
Project Kuiper is planning the constellation of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit. For that purpose, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission wanted Amazon to deploy at least half of that figure by 2026. That’s why Amazon purchased three launches from SpaceX. Reports claim that the three Falcon 9 missions are targeted to take off in mid-2025. Amazon is going ahead as it purchased much of the launch capacity through the middle of the decade. The company secured up to 83 launches from Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance last year at an anticipated cost of billions of dollars. Even though, the company’s shareholders Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund filed a lawsuit against the board over this decision. They claimed that the company spent less than 40 minutes to approve the launch agreements without even considering SpaceX.
Furthermore, the lawsuit claims that SpaceX was never even considered as a possibility. The Amazon management also informed its audit committee back in July 2020, that the company was in talks with Blue Origin, Arianespace, ULA, and a fourth unnamed company for Kuiper launch contracts. The complaint stated:
“Inexplicably, the most famous, reliable, and obvious launch provider in the world — SpaceX — was not among the four companies presented to [Amazon’s] Audit Committee”
Let’s see what comes next. Will the company succeed in purchasing half of the launch capacity by 2026? Time will tell. Stay tuned for more updates!
