Business | Star wars

Amazon’s $20bn push into orbit targets SpaceX and China

It thinks satellite internet could be a big money-maker

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is on the launch pad carrying Amazon's Project Kuiper internet network satellite
Delivery delayedPhotograph: Reuters

ASSUMING THE weather co-operates—thunderstorms have already caused the abandonment of one launch, on April 9th—at some point in the coming days Amazon will get itself into the space business. A United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket is on the launchpad in Florida, carrying the first batch of 27 satellites for Amazon’s new “Kuiper” satellite-internet system. The mighty e-commerce firm hopes to deliver “high-speed, low-latency internet to virtually any location on the planet”.

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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Star wars”

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