American Multinational web services and e-commerce giant Amazon has launched the first batch of its 27 satellites under Project Kuiper to provide an affordable broadband internet network worldwide.

Jeff Bezos’ company, Amazon, is planning to compete with Elon Musk’s Spacex Starlink space-based broadband link network.

Elon Musk’s Spacex has used its reusable Falcon 9 rocket to launch over 8,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit since 2019. The European company OneWeb has also launched several hundred satellites to provide broadband internet service to its global clients.

Starlink is the largest satellite-based internet service provider with more than 50 lakh internet users in around 125 countries.

From where were the satellites launched?

The first set of 27 satellites was launched into space on board an Atlas V rocket of the United Launch Alliance company. The rocket was launched from its launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, United States of America.

The United Launch Alliance company is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

Project Kupier of Amazon

Project Kuiper is an ambitious initiative by Amazon to provide global high-speed internet access worldwide through a constellation of more than 3,000 satellites placed in low Earth orbit.

Amazon aims to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband facilities in areas that have little or no internet connectivity. Amazon will target customers like the government and its agencies, households, businesses, and other organisations operating in such places.

Mirror film coating on satellites

The newly launched satellites have a mirror film coating to minimise their impact on astronomical observation from Earth.

Due to the proliferation of satellites in low Earth orbit, astronomers on Earth face problems in observing distant galaxies.

These satellites cause light pollution due to the sunlight that falls on these satellites.

These lights are reflected back, which ruins the photograph taken by the ground-based astronomers to study distant galaxies and astronomical objects like dangerous asteroids, which can threaten Earth.