Tampa, Florida – An Indian LVM3 rocket launched AST Spacemobile’s next-generation direct-to-device Bluebird satellite on Dec. 23, marking the launch of dozens of spacecraft built around the largest commercial communications antenna ever deployed in low Earth orbit (LEO).
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)’s largest rocket lifted off from the country’s Satish Dhawan Space Center at 10:25 pm Eastern, followed by the launch of the Bluebird 6 satellite about 15 minutes later.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said, “With this mission, India has successfully launched 434 satellites for 34 countries.” It consists of 72 OneWeb LEO broadband satellites now owned by French operator Eutelsat.
Weighing approximately 6,100 kg, Narayanan said Bluebird 6 is “the heaviest satellite ever lifted from Indian soil using an Indian launcher.”
AST’s founder, president and CEO, Abel Avellan, said the company has taken control of the satellite and has confirmed nominal telemetry.
With a phased array spanning approximately 223 square meters when unfolded, Bluebird 6 is about 3.5 times larger than Bluebirds 1-5, which were launched together on a SpaceX Falcon 9 last year.
From early next year, AST said the larger Block 2 Bluebirds will also use home-grown chips to enable up to 10 gigahertz of processing bandwidth per satellite – 10 times the capacity of the first Bluebirds, which supported 120 megabits per second peak data rates.
Each satellite is designed to connect directly to standard mobile phones, initially using spectrum from cellular carriers to extend coverage beyond the reach of their terrestrial towers.
busy year ahead
AST said it is on track to launch 45-60 satellites by the end of 2026 to enable full text, voice and 5G data services in the United States and other early markets.
Last year, the Texas-based company had indicated that the satellites would be launched in batches after the Indian mission under a multi-provider launch plan, which includes SpaceX but relies heavily on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
AST announced on December 21 that it had flown Bluebird 7, similar to Bluebird 6, to Cape Canaveral, Florida for launch.
However, it added that Bluebirds 8-25 are in various stages of assembly, integration and testing.
The availability of New Glenn flights next year, which are large enough to deploy eight Bluebirds at a time, also remains to be seen.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp recently said the company aims to launch “multiple times over the next year,” but he did not elaborate on projections for the new Glenn amid demand from the U.S. Space Force and other customers. The rocket has achieved two successful missions so far.
Several companies are racing to provide direct-to-device connectivity from LEO and other orbits, including frontrunner SpaceX, which is looking to expand an already operational service next year that uses its massive Starlink constellation.
AST’s approach relies on fewer, very large LEO satellites designed to provide higher capacity per spacecraft, versus competitors pursuing different architectures and scale strategies.
