As part of its planned Project Kuiper satellite internet service, Amazon on Tuesday made three client terminals available for inspection. Amazon described residential, commercial, and ultracompact terminals in a blog post. All of these devices are intended to be deployed outdoors and can connect to satellites that are travelling overhead.
A network of over 3,000 broadband satellites in low Earth orbit will be used by Project Kuiper to provide internet connectivity to users. It will face competition from companies like SpaceX’s Starlink, which has more than 2,000 satellites in orbit and provides internet access to users in numerous nations.
Project Kuiper is expected to eventually serve “tens of millions of customers,” according to Amazon. The terminal is less than 11 inches square and weighs under 5 pounds without its mounting bracket for residential and small business clients. According to Amazon, Project Kuiper will also include a smaller, 7-inch square, 1 pound terminal that will be available as a more transportable and cost-effective alternative.
The 7-inch terminal will provide rates up to 100 Mbps, while the 11-inch terminal can deliver up to 400 Mbps. According to Amazon, the biggest terminal in the company will measure 19 by 30 inches and offer speeds of up to 1 gigabit per second to enterprise and government users.
Amazon stated that it anticipates producing the terminals for “less than $400 per,” although it did not specify how much it will charge users for the terminals or broadband access. According to Amazon, it anticipates launching its first batch of production satellites in the first half of 2024 and may start providing service to customers later that year. In May, the business plans to use the Vulcan rocket from United Launch Alliance to launch two prototype satellites into orbit.
Alexis Boutilier is from Vancouver, British Columbia. She has a high interest in all things tech and loves to stay engaged on all the latest appliances and accessories.