spacetoday.net: Amazon to spend $120 million on Kuiper payload processing facility

Posted: Sat, Jul 29, 2023, 12:55 PM ET (1655 GMT)
Amazon is spending $120 million on a payload processing facility for its Project Kuiper satellites in Florida. The 31,000-square-meter facility is under construction at the Kennedy Space Center's Launch and Landing Facility with the backing of Space Florida, the state space development agency, the company revealed July 21. Amazon will use the facility to prepare Kuiper satellites, built in Washington state, for launch on Blue Origin and ULA rockets from Cape Canaveral. The facility will open in early 2025, and Amazon plans to use a third-party payload processing facility until it is complete. The first two Kuiper satellites are still scheduled to launch on the first ULA Vulcan Centaur late this year, although Amazon says it is considering alternative options for launching them.