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July 21 (UPI) -- Amazon on Friday announced that construction is underway for a new satellite-processing facility in Florida. The facility at Space Florida's Launch and Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center will support Amazon's Project Kuiper, a satellite network project that aims to provide fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world.
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"We have an ambitious plan to begin Project Kuiper's full-scale production launches and early customer pilots next year, and this new facility will play a critical role in helping us deliver on that timeline," said Steve Metayer, vice president of Kuiper Production Operations.
Amazon said satellite production for the project will start in Kirkland, Wash., by the end of this year and the 100,000-square-foot Florida site will take in those satellite shipments and conduct final preparations ahead of launches, connect satellites to custom dispensers and integrate the loaded dispensers with launch vehicles.
The receiving facility will also feature a 100-foot tall clean room to allow for payload fairing of new heavy-lift rockets.
Amazon last year reached deals with Blue Origin, headed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and United Launch Alliance to launch Project Kuiper satellites.
The company said Friday the facility will prepare launches for both companies.
Amazon said it is investing $120 million in new construction and equipment at the facility which will create 50 new jobs.
"We are proud to partner with Space Florida to bolster the growing space industry in Florida and elsewhere across the United States, and we look forward to adding more talent to our skilled operations and manufacturing team," Metayer said. "These employees will play an important part in our mission to connect tens of millions of customers worldwide."
Two prototype satellites will be launched in the coming months to test the network and subsystems while production launches are expected to start in 2024.
In 2022, Amazon said the prototype satellites will launch on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rockets.
