Earlier this year Amazon announced “Project Kuiper, a new initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world.”
On Wednesday, the company disclosed, via its blog, that it has settled on new headquarters for the project in Redmond, WA. According to the post, the new facility “will consist of two buildings with a total of 219,000 square feet of space.” The facility will be used for R&D, design, prototype manufacturing and office space, with the Kuiper team expected to move in sometime in 2020.
When Amazon made the initial announcement about Project Kuiper, a company spokesman emailed GeekWire the following statement:
“Project Kuiper is a new initiative to launch a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world. This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet. We look forward to partnering on this initiative with companies that share this common vision.”
According to GeekWire, “Amazon said the satellites would provide data coverage for spots on Earth ranging in latitude from 56 degrees north to 56 degrees south. About 95 percent of the world’s population lives within that wide swath of the planet.”
With multiple companies rushing to provide space-based internet service, Amazon is one of the bigger entries in an already crowded field.