Amazon nears Leo launch after latest satellite mission

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Amazon nears Leo launch

Highlights

Amazon launched 29 Leo satellites on Thursday.
The constellation now has more than 390 satellites.
Initial Leo service is expected later this year.
Starlink still leads with about 10,000 satellites.

Leo reaches the initial service threshold

According to CNBC, Amazon launched 29 more Leo satellites early Thursday aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission lifted off around 12:30 a.m. ET and brought Amazon’s constellation to more than 390 satellites, enough to support continuous service across initial latitudes, Chris Weber, vice president of business and product for Amazon Leo.

The company has already begun offering an enterprise preview of Leo to selected businesses, but it has not yet opened the service to consumers or government customers. The first commercial rollout is expected to be limited to certain regions, with later launches adding coverage and capacity.

Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is Amazon’s effort to build a satellite broadband network in low Earth orbit. Amazon has said the network is designed to serve households, businesses, governments, and areas with limited or unreliable internet access.

A late start against Starlink

The launch is a significant step, but Amazon remains far behind SpaceX. Starlink began launching in 2015 and has built a constellation of about 10,000 satellites with more than 10 million subscribers. Amazon announced Kuiper in 2019, later renaming the project Leo.

Amazon’s planned constellation is much larger than its current fleet. The company aims to deploy roughly 7,700 satellites, which would give it wider geographic reach and greater network capacity. For now, the initial service threshold means the system can operate in limited latitudes, not that global service is ready.

The deployment has also been slowed by launch capacity. Amazon reserved launches in 2022 with ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin, later adding rides with SpaceX. Several providers have faced delays with their launch vehicles, complicating the pace of the rollout.

Launch cadence becomes the next test

The next stage will depend on how quickly Amazon can increase deployment. The company said its next Leo mission will use ULA’s Vulcan heavy-lift rocket, which can carry larger payloads and help accelerate the rollout. Amazon has also pointed to a dedicated vertical integration facility and hundreds of flight-ready satellites waiting at Cape Canaveral.

The stakes are high because low Earth orbit broadband depends on scale. More satellites mean broader coverage, better capacity, and more reliable service. Amazon has the resources and cloud infrastructure to make Leo a serious competitor, especially for enterprise and government customers, but Starlink’s head start remains substantial. The latest launch gives Amazon enough satellites to begin service; the harder task is turning that early footprint into a global network.

We have previously highlighted that Amazon bets on custom AI chips for consumer devices.

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