SAN FRANCISCO: Amazon is geared up to put its first two test satellites into space during its “Protoflight” mission on Friday under Project Kuiper, the company’s low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband initiative to take on Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The prototype satellites, KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2, are the first iterations of more than 3,200 satellites Project Kuiper plans to make and deploy over the next six years. Two prototype satellites will help the Project Kuiper team improve the technology and operations required to deliver fast, affordable broadband from space, Amazon said.

It aims to have a constellation of over 3,200 in low Earth orbit to compete with Starlink, which has over 4,000 satellites in space to beam Internet. Its first production satellites are on track for launch in the first half of 2024, and Amazon expects to be in beta testing with early commercial customers by the end of 2024.

“We’ve done extensive testing here in our lab and have a high degree of confidence in our satellite design, but there’s no substitute for on-orbit testing,” said Rajeev Badyal, Project Kuiper’s VP, Tech.