SpaceX launches 5 giant BlueBird smartphone satellites for AST SpaceMobile, lands rocket (video)
- by Space.com
- Sep 11, 2024
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An artist's illustration of a giant AST SpaceMobile BlueBird mobile broadband satellite for smartphone connectivity.
(Image credit: AST SpaceMobile)
"This is a pivotal moment for AST SpaceMobile as we bring our vision to enhance cellular connectivity globally, with the support of our strategic partners and the unwavering commitment of our team," Abel Avellan, the founder, chairman and CEO of the Texas-based company, said in a a prelaunch statement.
AST SpaceMobile's constellation could eventually include 168 satellites. And some of them will be considerably bigger than the BlueBirds that went up today. Indeed, the company has already started production on 17 "Block 2" BlueBird satellites, which will feature 2,400-square-foot (223 square meters) communications arrays, according to SpaceNews.
"We're just getting started," Avellan said during a livestream of the AST SpaceMobile launch of the newer BlueBird design. "Our next generation of satellites will be three and a half times larger."
Such news doubtless makes many astronomers and dark-sky advocates nervous. BlueWalker 3 is one of the brightest objects in the night sky, after all; one astrophysicist described its launch as "a big shift in the constellation satellite issue" that "should give us all reason to pause."
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocketlands after launching five giant AST SpaceMobile broadband satellites for cell phones from Space Launch Complex 40 of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sept. 12, 2024.
(Image credit: SpaceX/AST SpaceMobile)
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