"Starlink Killer" Finally Reveals Sword: Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) has launched over 390 satellites into orbit, reaching a turning point after four years of chasing.

Amazon.com, Inc. announced on Thursday that its low-Earth orbit satellite internet project, Leo, has deployed a sufficient number of satellites in orbit and plans to launch "initial service" later this year. At around 12:30 am Eastern Time on Thursday, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket launched 29 satellites into orbit. With this, the total number of satellites in orbit for Amazon.com, Inc.'s Leo constellation has exceeded 390. Chris Weber, Vice President of Leo Business and Products, stated on the X platform that this number is "sufficient to support continuous service within the initial latitude range". This is a key milestone for Amazon.com, Inc. in the low-orbit satellite internet market as it challenges SpaceX's Starlink. In November last year, Amazon.com, Inc. launched a "Business Preview" of Leo for select enterprise customers, but the official commercial service for consumers and government customers has not yet been launched. Weber stated that the initial commercial service may be limited to users in specific geographical regions, with subsequent launch missions gradually expanding coverage and network capacity. SpaceX has been leading Amazon.com, Inc. in the satellite internet field for about four years - its Starlink project was launched in 2015 and has deployed around 10,000 satellites, with over 10 million global subscribed users. Amazon.com, Inc. announced the Kuiper project (later renamed to Leo) in 2019, with the goal of building a massive constellation of around 7,700 satellites, but the project has faced setbacks due to a shortage of launch rocket capacity. In January this year, Amazon.com, Inc. mentioned delay factors beyond its control, including the shortage of launch rockets in the short term, when applying to extend the deployment deadline with regulatory agencies. In 2022, Amazon.com, Inc. signed a historic agreement for launch services with ULA, Arianespace, and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rockets, and also purchased SpaceX's launch services. However, several of these launch service providers have encountered delays in rocket development. Another setback occurred in May this year when Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad during a static fire test, with the rocket planned to launch a batch of Amazon.com, Inc. satellites a few days later. Blue Origin is currently rebuilding the launch pad and investigating the cause of the accident. Both Bezos and Blue Origin CEO, Dave Limp, have expressed the company's determination to resume New Glenn rocket flights later this year. New Glenn is a large partly reusable rocket aimed at competing with SpaceX's Starship rocket, with a maximum payload capacity to low orbit of up to 45 tons. Amazon.com, Inc. stated on Thursday that the next Leo launch mission will use ULA's Vulcan Heavy rocket, which can carry a larger Leo payload to help increase deployment rates. Melissa Vare, Director of Leo Launch Systems, stated in a statement, "There are currently hundreds of standby satellites at Cape Canaveral ready to go, and the newly built dedicated vertical assembly facility is also in place to support the first Leo mission and subsequent launches with the Vulcan rocket. We have a clear path to improve the launch and deployment pace, so that after the initial service launch later this year, we can quickly expand network coverage."