Amazon filed an experimental license request with the FAA recently to launch the first satellites for its long-awaited Starlink competitor Project Kuiper, following FCC approval of the project last year.
The satellites are expected to hit the skies in Q4 2022, and are the first step in Amazon’s planned $10 billion mission to provide satellite-based internet to rural areas around the world.
Amazon says it will also take steps to address the most contentious issues in satellite deployment, like limiting the visibility of its satellites and deorbiting them post-mission, to mitigate space junk.
For its part...SpaceX's Starlink has already launched 1,740 satellites, and recently registered its business in India, where it plans to deploy 200,000 active terminals in over 160,000 districts by December 2022.