Page 66 - SAMENA Trends - December 2023
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        Amazon Taps SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rocket to Help Launch Kuiper Satellites


        Amazon  said  it  booked  three  Falcon  9   company  said  Friday.  The  Falcon  9   launch  contracts  were  the  second-largest
        launches with Elon Musk's SpaceX to help   missions add to 83 rocket launches it had   capital expenditure in Amazon's history at
        deploy the  ecommerce giant's  Project   already  procured  from  Jeff  Bezos'  space   the time. Amazon's largest acquisition is its
        Kuiper satellite network, tapping a rival in   company Blue Origin, the Boeing-Lockheed   $13.7  billion  deal  to  buy  Whole  Foods  in
        the satellite internet business for its multi-  (BA.N), (LMT.N) joint venture United Launch   2017.  Amazon's  announcement  that  it
        billion  dollar  launch  campaign.  Amazon   Alliance  and  Europe's  Arianespace in  a   added  SpaceX  rockets  to  its  launch
        aims to build Kuiper as a constellation of   multi-billion  dollar  launch  deal.  Amazon   campaign comes just three days before its
        3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit to beam   was  sued  by  a  shareholder  in  August  for   deadline  to lodge  a  substantive  defense
        broadband  internet  globally  and  compete   not  adequately  considering  SpaceX  as  a   against the shareholder lawsuit, according
        with  SpaceX's  Starlink  network,  which   launch provider when it was selecting most   to  a  court  scheduling  order.  Amazon  in
        already has some 5,000 satellites providing   of the 83 other rides to space in late 2021   September  filed  a  motion  to  dismiss  the
        nearly  global  coverage.  Amazon,  which   and 2022. The company said the lawsuit's   lawsuit, saying it would detail its defense in
        vowed in 2019 to invest $10 billion into the   claims  "are  completely  without  merit."   a later briefing. On Friday, the same day as
        project, will put an unspecified number of   Cleveland  Bakers and  Teamsters  Pension   Amazon's  SpaceX  announcement,  the
        Kuiper satellites on three Falcon 9 rockets   Fund, a  fund that  lodged  the  suit  in  a   court set a deadline of Dec. 4 for Amazon
        from  SpaceX  beginning  in  mid-2025,  the   Delaware  court,  said  in  its  complaint  the   to outline its motion to dismiss. SpaceX's
                                                                                 partially  reusable  Falcon  9  rockets  have
                                                                                 been a crucial advantage over rivals in its
                                                                                 rapid deployment of Starlink, a fast-growing
                                                                                 internet  network  that  made  the  Musk-
                                                                                 owned company the world's largest satellite
                                                                                 operator. Eutelsat's  OneWeb, another
                                                                                 satellite  internet  rival,  relied  on  Russia's
                                                                                 Soyuz rocket for deploying the bulk of its
                                                                                 network.  But  OneWeb  turned  to  SpaceX
                                                                                 when  Russia  invaded  Ukraine  and  seized
                                                                                 $50  million  worth  of the  company's
                                                                                 satellites.  U.S.  regulators  require  Amazon
                                                                                 to deploy half  of the  Kuiper network by
                                                                                 2026. The company launched its first two
                                                                                 prototype satellites in orbit in October and
                                                                                 announced  successful  tests  last  month.
                                                                                 Amazon  expects  to  deploy  enough
                                                                                 satellites for "early customer pilots" in the
                                                                                 second half of 2024. It plans to use United
                                                                                 Launch  Alliance's  Atlas  5  and  the  yet-to-
                                                                                 launch  Vulcan  rocket  for  the  first  few
                                                                                 batches of satellites.



























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