Amazon has purchased three Falcon 9 rocket launches from SpaceX to support the deployment of the massive Project Kuiper constellation, the company said on Friday. The new deal comes just two months after it was revealed that Amazon is facing a lawsuit over its decision not to consider SpaceX – the most reliable rocket company on the planet – in the first round of launch contracts.
The three Falcon 9 missions are scheduled to launch starting in mid-2025. Kuiper plans to launch a constellation of 3,236 satellites into low Earth orbit; The US Federal Communications Commission has required Amazon to deploy at least half of that number by 2026.
Over time, Amazon went ahead and purchased a significant portion of launch capacity during the middle of the decade, acquiring as many as 83 launches from Arianespace, Blue Origin, and United Launch Alliance last year at an expected cost of several billion dollars.
Amazon shareholders, the Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Retirement Fund, sued the board over the decision, claiming they spent less than 40 minutes approving launch agreements while not even considering SpaceX.
The lawsuit also alleges that SpaceX was never raised as a possibility: In July 2020, Amazon management told its audit committee that the company was in talks with Blue Origin, Arianespace, ULA and an unnamed fourth company for Kuiper launch contracts. “Inexplicably, the most well-known, reliable and visible launch provider in the world – SpaceX – was not among the four companies submitted to [Amazon’s] “Audit Committee,” the complaint says.
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