Skip to main content Tom's Guide Tom's Guide Search Tom's Guide View Profile Newsletters Best Picks Entertainment Nintendo Switch 2 MacBook Air M4 Amazon Spring Sale Best Mattress Wordle Today Amazon's Starlink competitor finally blasts off next week — what you need to know Scott Younker 3 April 2025 One small step for Bezos. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Amazon) Amazon has announced that it will launch its first 27 Project Kuiper satellites next week. The space-bound launch is meant to start setting up Amazon's satellite internet program meant to compete with Elon Musk's Star Link. Eventually, Amazon plans to have up to 3,200 low earth orbit satellites, creating a network that is supposed to offer high-speed, low-latency internet. Amazon says it expects offer the service "later this year." The KA-01 mission satellites are going to launch on an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance next Wednesday (April 9) at noon ET/ 9 a.m. PDT. That is assuming weather and technology cooperate at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. "We’ve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time we’ve flown our final satellite design and the first time we’ve deployed so many satellites at once," Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Project Kuiper, said in a statement. What is Project Kuiper? We have a more detailed guide to Project Kuiper, but basically, Amazon's satellite internet service has been in the works since at least 2018. The company got approval to start launching satellites in 2020, and an announcement was made in 2021 that launches would start occurring in 2022. Though that expected launch was only for a couple of prototype satellites. The orbital system will be built on 3,200 LEO satellites. By comparison, SpaceX's Starlink constellation has over 7,000 LEO satellites that it's been launching since 2019. Similar to Starlink, there are or will be multiple offerings for Project Kuiper's technology back here on Earth. One offering will be a small 7-inch square designed dish weighing about 1 pound that can get speeds up to 100Mbps. It's a competitor to the Starlink Mini which released last summer. Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. To further compete with Starlink and SpaceX, Amazon plans to offer bigger dishes for residential and businesses that will get up to 1Gbps. The terminals are expected to be produced for "less than $400 each," which may be subsidized by the company to attract early customers. “No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years," Badyal said. More from Tom's Guide Amazon reportedly makes last-minute bid for TikTok — what we know Amazon is removing this privacy feature from its Echo smart speakers on March 28 — what you need to know 7 biggest Amazon event announcements you missed — Alexa Plus, pricing, smart home upgrades and more Back to Gaming Laptops Intel Core i7 Intel Core i9 Storage Size Screen Size Refurbished Showing 10 of 20 deals MSI Cyborg 15 (15.6-inch 512GB) Alienware x14 R2 Gaming Laptop $1,499View MSI Cyborg 15 (15.6-inch 1TB) $1,303.98View MSI Cyborg 15 (15.6-inch) MSI Cyborg 15 $1,179View Alienware x14 R2 Gaming Laptop (14-inch 1TB) $1,399.99View Alienware x14 R2 Gaming Laptop (17.3-inch 2TB) $2,399.99View MSI Cyborg 15 $1,369View Alienware x14 R2 Gaming Laptop (14-inch 2TB) $11,548.84 $2,644.62View MSI Cyborg 15 $1,412.99View See more Computing News Scott Younker Social Links Navigation West Coast Reporter Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. 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