The first of its next-generation BlueBird satellites is now in orbit. But the Starlink rival, backed by AT&T, Verizon, and others, needs approximately 40 more satellites to launch US service.
Fifteen months after seeing its first five commercial mobile-broadband satellites reach orbit, AST SpaceMobile now has a sixth circling the Earth.
The first of the company’s second-generation BlueBird Block 2 satellites lifted off at 10:25 p.m. EST Tuesday from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre atop an LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark III) rocket. About 15 minutes later, mission controllers confirmed the satellite’s deployment into a 323-mile-high orbit from the upper stage of that expendable launch vehicle.
“This launch validates years of US innovation and American manufacturing, executed by our team, and marks the transition to scaled deployment,” AST’s press release quotes Abel Avellan, its founder, chairman, and CEO. “With BlueBird 6 now in orbit, we are firmly on the path to delivering true space-based cellular broadband directly to everyday smartphones, at a global scale.”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the launch in a post on X, saying it featured “the heaviest satellite ever launched from Indian soil” and advanced India’s self-reliance agenda.
