AST SpaceMobile decoupled from recent launch disappointments by scheduling the orbital deployment of its next three satellites on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The space-based mobile network company hopes to blast its BlueBird 8, 9 and 10 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) on 17 June. As ever, launches are dependent on various environmental and other factors, so precise timing is fluid.

AST SpaceMobile expects the latest satellites to deliver almost twice the data rates of its initial BlueBird models, which it noted recently hit 98.9Mb/s in the downlink.

Company president Scott Wisniewski said the significance of the satellites goes beyond expanding its constellation and coverage: they represent the culmination of an in-house manufacturing drive and bolster claims to having birds with the largest phase-arrayed antennas at LEO heights.

AST SpaceMobile stated the trio of satellites are already stacked using a proprietary architecture and ready to be integrated with the SpaceX rocket.

The scheduled launch is something of a firing back by AST SpaceMobile at commentators who questioned whether a recent failure of a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket during a test would impact a plan to conduct regular launches throughout 2026.

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A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded during a test, a potential blow to AST SpaceMobile and its launch schedule.

The New Glenn explosion yesterday (28 May) at Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida will likely lead to lengthy investigations by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA, which will sideline future launches.

In late 2024, AST SpaceMobile signed a multi-launch agreement with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin. It previously relied on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets to launch its birds into orbit before attempting to branch out to the larger New Glenn models.

AST SpaceMobile has predicted an orbital launch cadence of roughly every one to two months this year through deals with multiple launch providers as it continues to target having approximately 45 birds in orbit by the end of 2026.

New Glenn’s seven meter-wide payload fairing is one of the few in the industry capable of accommodating the 2,400 square-foot phased arrays of AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites, with the potential to carry up to eight per flight.

Fallout
“The New Glenn failure is a tough blow to AST which, due to the size of its satellites, has limited options for launch and New Glenn was by far the best option,” Chris Quilty, founder and CEO of research company Quilty Space told Mobile World Live (MWL), adding the company would now struggle to achieve its launch target for the year.

Tim Farrar, president at consulting company TMF Associates, told MWL the explosion has a “huge impact since this was the primary launch vehicle and it will take a year or more to rebuild the [launch] pad”.

“I think this pushes [AST’s] continuous commercial service back to 2028,” he added.

A representative for AST SpaceMobile stated the company’s near-term launches are unaffected.

“None of the missions planned for the next few months are scheduled with Blue Origin. Our satellites are designed to be launcher-agnostic, and we have agreements in place with multiple launch providers, giving us flexibility across our launch programme.”

BlueBirds 8, 9, and 10 are already at Cape Canaveral undergoing final processing ahead of a planned launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket next month.

A launch of AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation BlueBird 7 satellite from a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket last month fell short of the required orbit, resulting in its loss.

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