Amazon and Florida officials inaugurating a new satellite processing facility, July 21, 2023. Left to right: TJ Villamil (Department of Commerce), Kennedy Space Center Director Janet Petro, Brian Huseman (VP of Policy, Amazon Kuiper), State Rep. Thad Altman, Steve Metayer (VP of Production, Amazon Kuiper), Frank DiBello (president and CEO, Space Florida), Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez, State Sen. Debbie Mayfield, State Sen. Tom Wright, State Rep. Robert Brackett. (Space Florida)
(Tribune News Service) — Amazon plans on expanding its footprint on the Space Coast with another $19.5 million facility in its efforts to launch thousands of internet-providing satellites for Project Kuiper, the company’s competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink.
To date, only two test satellites from Project Kuiper have flown when they took to space atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in late 2023. Those two, though, paved the way for Amazon to sign off on the satellite design and begin manufacturing of what is planned to be a 3,232-satellite constellation.
While the satellites are built in Washington state, they will be prepped for launch and fueled up at the new $120 million satellite processing facility that is near completion at a nearly 80-acre site at the Kennedy Space Center’s former Shuttle Landing Facility.
Adjacent to that 100,000-square-foot building will be this 42,000-square-foot expansion that will allow Amazon to process and store more satellites for a busy schedule of launches from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“This decision is a clear indicator of Florida’s unbeatable location and world-class infrastructure,” Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez said in a press release. “Through this partnership, we will continue to assert our leadership in the global space economy.”
The site is now operated by Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development agency, under a 30-year lease from NASA. Amazon’s arrival to the site was a boon to the state’s efforts to attract more aerospace jobs.
The original deal promised as many as 50 jobs with an average salary of $80,000 as well as 300 jobs during construction. Amazon said this addition will create 10 more full-time job opportunities in areas such as engineering, logistics, operations and maintenance.
“This investment underscores our commitment to Project Kuiper as we work toward providing high-speed, low-latency broadband internet to communities around the world,” said Steve Metayer, vice president of Project Kuiper production operations. “We’re proud of our continued partnership with Space Florida and look forward to adding more talent to our team at Cape Canaveral.”
The new facility will have temperature-controlled storage areas, maintenance bays and other work areas, plus be equipped with industrial rigging capabilities to move heavy equipment. Construction on this side facility should be completed in 2025 while the original facility is projected to be ready before the end of the year.
The expansion will allow for quicker turnaround between launches because the company is on a bit of a time crunch to get its satellites into space.
Its license from the Federal Communications Commission requires that half of the satellites be placed in orbit by July 31, 2026 and the full constellation by July 31, 2029.
The company said it will ship its first set of operational satellites to Florida before the end of summer and is targeting the first launch of Amazon’s eight remaining Atlas V rockets before the end of the year. It hopes to at optimum flow be able to manufacture five satellites a day.
If regular launches begin in January, that only gives Amazon just over 1½ years to knock out the 50% requirement from the FCC. That is not a position the company expected to be in when it first announced its launch plans in 2022.
Amazon first bought up the remaining available nine Atlas V rockets from ULA but then announced up to 83 more launches across three in-development rockets: ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and Arianespace’s Ariane 6, all of which were expected to be ready by 2023 and setting Amazon up for potential success.
Those three rockets, though, all faced delays with ULA’s Vulcan only flying for the first time in January and Ariane 6 launching in July. Vulcan’s next three launches, which could all happen this year, will be for other customers, and Ariane 6’s future launch plans have yet to be announced.
New Glenn, meanwhile, has yet to make its first flight but could debut as early as next month. Because of those delays, Amazon announced it had contracted with SpaceX for three additional launches on Falcon 9 rockets.
But with SpaceX and ULA’s eight additional Atlas V rockets ready to go, Amazon states it’s on track to serve its first customers sometime in 2025. The first ULA Vulcan and Blue Origin New Glenn missions could also take flight in 2025, so Amazon could be feeding a steady supply of satellites to three launch providers among four rockets on the Space Coast. Arianespace launches from South America.
Amazon has also invested in ULA infrastructure at Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 where ULA is building out a second vertical integration facility that will be dedicated to commercial launches and allow two rockets to be prepped for launch concurrently.
Amazon’s goal is to build out a satellite network to rival SpaceX’s Starlink and other low-Earth orbit constellations. SpaceX has been launching operational versions of its Starlink satellites since 2019 and has to date put into orbit nearly 7,000 with the OK from the FCC to grow to as many as 7,500.
For the Space Coast processing site, Amazon has footed the majority of the building costs but received matching grants from the Florida Department of Transportation as part of FDOT’s Spaceport Improvement Program.
“Amazon’s additional investment in the Project Kuiper facility is just another example of the value of the long-term partnerships we forge with our industry partners,” Space Florida President and CEO Rob Long said.
Space Florida acts as landlord and helped to clear the path for the commercial infrastructure by investing more than $60 million so far from the spaceport program to help build an adequate utility corridor so companies can basically come in, plug in and go about their business. The amount of Amazon’s lease has not been disclosed.
“Not only are we here to support their initial activities within the expanding Florida aerospace ecosystem, but we remain by their side and ready to meet their needs as they grow,” Long said. “It’s great to see how far this project has come and I look forward to deepening our strong partnership with Amazon as they broaden global commercial satellite communications availability.”
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