Jeff Bezos and Amazon took their time, but he plans to launch the first two Project Kuiper satellites in the fourth quarter of 2022.

As reported by the New York Times, Project Kuiper's 2022 launch will go head-to-head with Elon Musk's Starlink satellite Internet service. This will be the first test of the new orbital unit before thousands more launches are planned to dominate the low Earth orbit satellite Internet market.

Amazon is lagging behind in launching its Project Kuiper satellite. Initially, the company planned to launch 3,236 low Earth orbit satellites in 2019. Two years later, the company has not launched a single one. By comparison, SpaceX has been able to put nearly 2,000 satellites into orbit, providing users with nearly global satellite internet. SpaceX currently plans to launch 12,000 satellites by 2030 and hopes to eventually increase that number to 42,000. However, the communication speed of Starlink is beginning to wane somewhat.

SpaceX and Amazon are not the only companies trying to literally put satellite Internet satellites into orbit, as are OneWeb, Boeing, Telesat, and programs by the Russian and Chinese governments. [Amazon will spend $10 billion to launch its first two satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, via ABL Space Systems.

The goal for Amazon is to make satellite Internet as affordable as possible. In the case of Starlink, users must pay $500 for a satellite dish. SpaceX's satellite dishes cost $1,500 each. In Amazon's case, consideration is given to providing the antennas free of charge to customers.

Unfortunately, the rush to put satellites into low Earth orbit has raised concerns among astronomers. Not only could thousands of pieces of space debris fly through space at high speeds due to collisions in space, but the high reflectivity of the Starlink satellites is also causing problems for telescopes on Earth.

Effective stargazing requires long-exposure observations of regions of deep space with giant telescopes on Earth. Floating reflective satellites in the middle of long-exposure imaging could completely ruin the ability to capture distant galaxies. While not a perfect solution, SpaceX is trying to address this by making the satellite less reflective.

In any case, private satellite companies, space agencies, and scientists need to work together to find a solution that provides high-speed Internet access to everyone in the world while not impeding important research. However, given the rapid pace at which companies are trying to catch up with Starlink, this story may get lost in the focus.