The timeline of customer pilots is also delayed but the company confirmed that it remains on track to meet the previously stated target of offering service to customers in 2025.Amazon expects to launch the first completed production satellites on aULAAtlas V rocket.in the next few months. We will continue to increase our rates of satellite production and deployment heading into 2025, and we remain on track to begin offering service to customers next year, Amazon said in a June 27 blog post.Amazonfaces an FCC deadlineto have half of the 3 232-satellite constellation launched by July 2026.
The company has been ramping up satellite production at itsnew satellite production and testing in Kirkland, Washington, which opened in April. This facility is designed to build up to five satellites per day at peak capacity.
Building advanced communications satellites at this scale is incredibly complex, and we want to ensure every Kuiper spacecraft meets our standards for performance, reliability, and safety, Steve Metayer, Project Kuipers vice president of production operations said. The progress from the team is so impressive, and we now have the foundational pieces in place to ramp up production ahead of a full-scale deployment. We cant wait to get service to our customers as soon as possible.
ULA launched the first two Kuiper prototype satellites last year. These satellites demonstrated two-way video calls and data transfers via theonboard optical inter-satellite links. Last month, Amazon announced it would begin theprocess to deorbit those two satellites, just eight months after they were launched.
