Amazon to open satellite-processing facility at Kennedy Space Center

Amazon said that Project Kuiper is moving one step closer to deploying its full satellite constellation, with construction underway on a new satellite-processing facility at Space Florida’s Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. The facility is the latest long-term investment in Project Kuiper, a low Earth orbit satellite network that will provide fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world. The space will be used to prepare and integrate Kuiper satellites with rockets from Blue Origin and United Launch Alliance ahead of launches. It stems from an expected partnership with Space Florida’s Spaceport Improvement Program. Project Kuiper will begin satellite production at a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Kirkland, Washington, by the end of this year. The new satellite-processing facility in Florida will be used to receive those satellite shipments, conduct final preparations ahead of launches, connect satellites to custom dispensers from Beyond Gravity, and integrate the loaded dispensers with launch vehicles. The 100,000-square-foot facility features a 100-foot tall high bay clean room to allow room for the payload fairing of new heavy-lift rockets like Blue Origin’s New Glenn and ULA’s Vulcan Centaur. Amazon is investing $120M in new construction and high-value equipment for the facility, and creating up to 50 new jobs on the Space Coast. These Project Kuiper facilities are critical to Amazon’s commitment to spur innovation; design and develop prototype and production satellites; and prepare our satellites for commercial deployment.