After several successful launches this year, Project Kuiper has an official name: Amazon Leo. This is indicative of the term low-Earth orbit (LEO), which refers to orbits at altitudes of 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) or less. This is the area where Amazon’s constellation of 153 satellites orbit. The original code name refers to the Kuiper Belt, an asteroid belt in the outer Solar System beyond Neptune.
Amazon plans to launch more than 80 missions carrying about 3,000 spacecraft. LEO has had six launches so far, including three launches using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a total of 72 satellites. Amazon’s main rival in this field is SpaceX’s Starlink, which recently launched its 10,000th satellite.
Amazon is promising that LEO will help “extend fast, reliable Internet to people beyond the reach of existing networks,” as Starlink has attempted over the past several years. Starlink (and Amazon) may be able to achieve this under the right circumstances, and eliminating the lack of good internet in many areas is a laudable goal. However, launching thousands of satellites into orbit can introduce some major issues, such as excessive amounts of debris, increased risk of orbital collisions, and increased danger to human missions.