Amazon has announced plans to launch 3,236 low Earth orbit satellites to provide internet to millions of people around the world.
The existence of the initiative — which is dubbed Project Kuiper — was first discovered in regulatory filings by GeekWire, which Amazon later confirmed.
“Project Kuiper is a new initiative to launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” an Amazon spokesperson told GeekWire.
“This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet. We look forward to partnering on this initiative with companies that share this common vision.”
Amazon didn’t reveal any other details about Project Kuiper, so it remains to be seen when the satellite network will be up and running, how much the whole endeavour will cost or which companies Amazon will partner with.
Project Kuiper is the latest in a growing line of space ambitions from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. In November, Amazon unveiled plans to grow its massive cloud business through a network of satellite facilities on Earth.
At the same time, Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin is preparing to launch satellites from Canadian operator Telesat and is even looking to send tourists to space.
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