Amazon to launch over 3,000 satellites

Amazon has confirmed its plan to build a network of over 3,000 satellites through “Project Kuiper” to provide high speed internet.

The project will launch a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to people globally who lack basic access to broadband internet.

Details of the project were filed with the United Nation’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) last month. The ITU coordinates the use of satellites globally and would have to sign off on the plan. If successful, Project Kuiper would provide data coverage across parts of the planet where 95 percent of the world’s population lives, GeekWire reported.

If realized, the initiative would mark Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos’s latest investment in space. Blue Origin LLC, the company he’s funding through the sale of $1 billion a year in Amazon stock, is also working to develop reusable rockets and to make space travel commercially viable.

Earlier this year, Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin also signed a deal with Canada’s Telesat to launch part of satellite constellation.

Via Geekwire