Amazon started the countdown to the launch of 27 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites set to deliver its delayed Project Kuiper internet service, with the birds scheduled to be sent into space on 9 April.

The company sent up a pair of prototype satellites in October 2023, and had initially planned to begin offering commercial services by the end of 2024.     

In its latest statement on the project released yesterday (2 April), Amazon asserted the new satellites were a significant upgrade on the trail ones with improved performance of “every system and sub-system on board”.

It cited improved phased array antennas, processors, solar arrays, propulsion systems and optical inter-satellite links.

The 27 LEO birds will form part of a planned 3,200 satellites which are set to make up its first Project Kuiper constellation. Its upcoming launch will take place in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Amazon noted it had secured more than 80 further launches to deliver its first full constellation with these being conducted by a number of companies.

The tech giant’s ultimate goal is to deliver “high-speed, low-latency internet to virtually any location on the planet” with an expectation it will start providing the service to customers later in 2025.

Although striking a bullish tone in the announcement, Project Kuiper VP Rajeev Badyal cautioned: “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”.

“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.”

Amazon is one of a number of companies targeting victory in the communications space race including rivals SpaceX-owned Starlink, Eutelsat and direct-to-device specialists AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global.