AST SpaceMobile saw three of its Midland-manufactured satellites successfully launched into low Earth orbit early Tuesday, June 17.
The company’s BlueBird 8, BlueBird 9 and BlueBird 10 satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The successful launch comes two months after the company’s BlueBird 7 satellite was launched on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, placed in the wrong orbit and brought back down to burn up in the atmosphere. A New Glenn rocket later exploded during a test firing in late May.
AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird satellites are the largest commercial communications arrays ever deployed in low Earth orbit, measuring approximately 2,400 square feet. They are designed to deliver peak data speeds of nearly 200 Mbps directly to standard smartphones, supporting voice, broadband data and video from space.
The next-generation BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver nearly double the peak data speeds of the company’s initial Block 1 BlueBird satellites, which recently achieved peak download speeds of 98.9 Mbps directly to standard smartphones.
“BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 represent the continued execution of a vision once considered impossible: space-based cellular broadband to everyone, everywhere,” said Abel Avellan, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of AST SpaceMobile, in a statement. “Our team has built a new class of space-based cellular broadband technology that connects seamlessly to everyday smartphones. This is a fundamental transformation of how the world connects. We invented this market, and we are executing and advancing our network to make global, space-based cellular broadband a reality.”
Avellan said BlueBird 11, BlueBird 12 and BlueBird 13 will ship shortly for the next launch, while next-generation BlueBird satellites through BlueBird 37 are already in active production and assembly. The satellites are assembled, integrated and tested at AST SpaceMobile’s facilities in Midland.
AST SpaceMobile has agreements with nearly 60 mobile network operators globally, representing more than 3 billion subscribers combined, along with strategic partnerships with AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, Google, Bell, Telus, stc Group and American Tower.