Forrester’s Digest: Amazon’s Kuiper readies next launches

Amazon’s Project Kuiper, its would-be broadband satellite rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink, is gearing up for its next launches.

It has a new 100,000 square foot payload processing facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida that is capable of preparing satellites for three near-simultaneous launch campaigns.

The facility, when fully operational, will turn out 100 satellites per month. Amazon says it is already building a secondary support site that will improve that output. Phase 1 of the build was opened in April.

Amazon says it has secured more than 80 launches to deploy its initial satellite constellation, using a combination of rockets from Arianespace, Blue Origin, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance (ULA). Most of those missions will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and now having its own dedicated payload processing facility nearby means Amazon can streamline satellite processing, integration, and encapsulation work, and move more quickly from the factory to the launch pad.

Project Kuiper opened a satellite production factory in Kirkland, Washington State, in 2024, that gives it the capacity to build up to five satellites per day at peak. Once satellites are built, tested, and cleared for launch, they are safely transported across the country to its new payload processing facility at Kennedy Space Center.

There are no precise dates for the next Kuiper launches other than a ULA (KV-01) launch on a Vulcan VC6L in Q3, and at least three on ULA Atlas rockets (KA-06, KA-07, KA-08) as well as three other Atlas launches without—as yet—fixed dates.

We’ve completed three missions in less than three months, and we’re continuing to pick up the pace as we prepare to begin delivering service to customers. Our facilities and team in Florida play a critical role in that process,” said Steve Metayer, VP/production operations at Project Kuiper. “At full capacity, this building will house three dispenser systems stacked full of Kuiper satellites, and a combination of fairings from rockets like Atlas V, Vulcan, New Glenn, and Falcon 9. There’s nothing else like it on the Space Coast.”