/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15578376
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/amazon-is-getting-ready-to-launch-a-lot-of-broadband-satellites/

> Last year, Amazon signed the largest commercial launch contract in history, snatching up rides on ULA's new Vulcan rocket, Blue Origin's New Glenn, and Arianespace's Ariane 6 launcher. All told, Amazon has purchased 77 launches: 38 Vulcan launches, plus nine flights on ULA's soon-to-retire Atlas V, 18 Ariane 6 rockets, and 12 New Glenn missions, with a contract option for 15 more.

> That will cover Kuiper's launch service needs for its 3,200 satellites. But all those rockets, except for the Atlas V, are still in development. ULA's Vulcan appears like it will fly first of Amazon's crop of launch vehicles, probably followed by the European-built Ariane 6, and then Blue Origin's New Glenn.

> He said the plan to launch the first two Kuiper testbeds on the inaugural Vulcan rocket remains the company's "plan of record." But Metayer added: "Obviously, we’re always working with our partners to find other options.”

>One of those alternatives, an Amazon official said, may be to move the two Kuiper prototypes to one of the Atlas V rockets Amazon has already booked. ULA has several Atlas Vs already delivered to Cape Canaveral, and those rockets are awaiting future missions.

more info on a arstechnica article, might use Atlas V (another ULA rocket), not Falcon 9
but after the 77 launches, spacex isn't completely ruled out

> “We will have a lot of launch appetite for a long time," a Project Kuiper official said, adding that Amazon wouldn't rule out launching with SpaceX or another company in the future. "We have the first 77 covered. There will be more after that. We’re kind of looking at everybody."