All articles tagged with #space based cellular broadband
AST SpaceMobile announced the successful orbital launch of BlueBird 8, 9, and 10 from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9, with the 2,400-square-foot arrays enabling direct-to-smartphone cellular broadband and paving the way for commercial service, while upcoming BlueBirds 11–13 and next-generation satellites remain in production.
AST SpaceMobile reports BlueBird 7 launched on the New Glenn but was placed into a lower-than-planned orbit, rendering its on-board thrusters unusable and requiring de-orbit. The company says the satellite’s cost will be recovered under its insurance. BlueBird 7 would have been its eighth LEO satellite; production continues with BlueBird 32 and BlueBird 8–10 expected to ship in about 30 days. AST SpaceMobile maintains plans for roughly monthly orbital launches in 2026 aiming for about 45 satellites by year-end as it builds a space-based cellular broadband network accessible by standard smartphones.
AST SpaceMobile won a roughly $30 million OTA prime contract from the U.S. Space Development Agency under HALO Europa Track 2 to rapidly demonstrate resilient, direct-to-device tactical satellite communications using its BlueBird LEO constellation, leveraging a software-defined bent-pipe architecture to integrate with existing military radios and support defense applications.