Ariane 64 flew with an extended payload shroud to fit all 32 Amazon LEO satellites. According to Arianespace, the combined payload was about 20 metric tons, or about 44,000 pounds. This is close to maximum lift capacity of the Ariane 64.
Amazon has booked more than 100 missions across four launch providers to populate the company’s planned fleet of more than 3,200 satellites. With Thursday’s launch, Amazon has launched 214 production satellites on eight missions with United Launch Alliance, SpaceX and now Arianespace.
Amazon LEO Group is a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink internet network. SpaceX now has more than 9,000 satellites in orbit delivering broadband to more than 9 million customers, and all are launched on the company’s own Falcon 9 rocket. Meanwhile, Amazon initially overlooked SpaceX when selecting which companies would launch satellites for the Amazon LEO program, formerly known as Project Kuiper.
Amazon booked the last nine launches on ULA’s soon-to-retire Atlas V, five of which have now flown, and has reserved the rest of its launches in 2022 on rockets that have never launched before: 38 flights on ULA’s new Vulcan rocket, 24 flights on Blue Origin’s New Glenn, and 18 flights on Europe’s Ariane 6.
An artist’s rendering of the Ariane 6 upper stage in orbit with a stack of Amazon LEO satellites awaiting deployment.
Credit: Arianespace
An artist’s rendering of the Ariane 6 upper stage in orbit with a stack of Amazon LEO satellites awaiting deployment.
Credit: Arianespace
Meanwhile, in Florida
All three new rockets were delayed but are now in service. With six flights after Thursday’s mission from French Guiana, Ariane 6 has enjoyed the fastest ramp-up in launch cadence yet. ULA’s Vulcan rocket has flown four times, and Amazon says its first batch of satellites to fly on Vulcan is now complete. But one of the Vulcan launcher’s solid rocket boosters malfunctioned on a military launch from Florida early Thursday– Second such anomaly in three flights– Raises questions about when Amazon will get its first ride on the Vulcan.
Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is preparing for the third flight of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket from Florida next month. Amazon and Blue Origin have not announced when the first group of Amazon LEO satellites will launch at New Glenn.
<a href