Amazon Leo [Photo courtesy of Reuters/Yonhap News]Amazon has announced that the initial service for its low-Earth orbit satellite internet project, 'Leo,' will launch within this year, signaling the start of full-scale competition with SpaceX’s 'Starlink.'

Amazon stated that it successfully launched and deployed 29 low-Earth orbit satellites into orbit using a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time on the 2nd.

This latest launch brings the total number of satellites Amazon has deployed in low-Earth orbit to 396.

Melissa Wall, head of Amazon’s Leo launch systems, noted that this was the final mission for the Atlas rocket, and that future launches will be conducted using the heavy-lift 'Vulcan' rocket.

Wall added, "This will allow us to rapidly expand our network coverage after launching the initial (satellite internet) service later this year."

Chris Webber, General Manager of Amazon Leo, also stated on X (formerly Twitter) that the company has "completed enough launches for the initial service this year."

Amazon established its satellite internet project in 2019 under the name 'Project Kuiper,' and changed the name last year to 'Leo,' an acronym for Low Earth Orbit.

While Amazon began enterprise-level services for Leo to select companies last November, it has yet to roll out services for general consumers.

Once Amazon fully launches its Leo service, it will compete directly with Starlink, the space company owned by industry leader Elon Musk.

Since its launch in 2015, Starlink has built a constellation of over 10,000 satellites and secured more than 10 million subscribers.

Amazon plans to deploy more than 7,700 satellites, but its progress has been slow due to a shortage of rocket launch capacity.

In particular, operational setbacks for launch vehicles are expected to continue after the heavy-lift 'New Glenn' rocket from Blue Origin—the space company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos—exploded during a combustion test in May, damaging launch pad infrastructure at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman estimated that it would take two years, until 2028, to restore the launch pad.

However, Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin, recently announced that instead of rebuilding the same launch pad, the company plans to shorten the recovery period by switching to a hybrid horizontal and vertical launch method that was already under development.