On September 13 at 11:52 Bulgarian time, the AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 1-5 mission was launched with the help on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket. The Falcon 9 first stage returned safely to Earth in about 7.5 minutes, marking the 13th launch and landing for this particular stage. The Falcon 9 second stage launched the BlueBird satellites into low Earth orbit and successfully deployed them 54 minutes after liftoff.
„This is a pivotal moment for AST SpaceMobile as we realize our vision to improve cellular connectivity worldwide with the support of our strategic partners and the unwavering commitment of our team,” said the founder, chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile Abel Avellan before launch.
The five 1,500-kilogram BlueBird satellites launched will form the basis of a space constellation designed to directly transmit communications services to mobile phones. Each BlueBird satellite is equipped with an antenna whose deployed area is a record 64 square meters, the largest antenna ever deployed by a commercial spacecraft.
Ultimately, SpaceMobile's AST constellation will include 168 spacecraft, some of which will be significantly larger than the BlueBirds launched today. The company has already started production of 17 BlueBird Block 2 satellites, which will receive antennas with an area of 223 m2. “We are just getting started,”, Avelan noted during the AST SpaceMobile live broadcast. “Our next generation of satellites will be three and a half times larger.“
This news undoubtedly upsets many astronomers and dark sky advocates. The new moons will be among the brightest objects in the night sky, which astrophysicists say “should give us food for thought”.
It should be noted that SpaceX and AST SpaceMobile are competitors in the field of satellite Internet, SpaceX has built a giant and ever-growing broadband network in low Earth orbit called Starlink. To date, SpaceX has launched 7,001 Starlink satellites, more than 100 of which can transmit data directly to smartphones.