(AST SpaceMobile)
After some delay, AST SpaceMobile has finally sent its first commercial satellites into orbit, advancing the company’s effort to bring satellite internet to AT&T and Verizon phones.
On early Thursday morning at 4:52 am EST, the company’s “BlueBird” satellites flew into space onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“And we have liftoff of the BlueBird 1-5 mission, and the dawn of a new era for mobile connectivity,” AST SpaceMobile’s head of content Dave Mosher said on the live stream.
About an hour later into the launch, SpaceX reported the Falcon 9 rocket had successfully deployed all five BlueBird satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Each BlueBird satellites is carrying what AST SpaceMobile says is the world’s largest communication array, measuring at 700 square feet. The large array enables the satellites to efficiently relay data from Earth, turning each BlueBird into an orbiting cell tower in space that can harness 5G spectrum.
AST SpaceMobile has been working on the satellites to help carriers worldwide serve users in cellular dead zones. The technology can power video calls and internet downloads as fast as 21Mbps to unmodified smartphones, according to earlier tests with the company's first prototype satellite.
(AST SpaceMobile)Despite their large size, the BlueBirds were neatly packed into the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Once deployed in Earth’s orbit, the satellites will then unfold their communication arrays, which also feature solar panels to receive energy from the Sun. AST SpaceMobile’s CEO Abel Avellan added that the company has achieved communication with all five BlueBird satellites.
The company, which has received investment from AT&T, Verizon and Google, plans on kicking off beta tests with the BlueBird satellites as soon as this December. However, AST SpaceMobile will need to launch between 45 to 60 commercial satellites before it can offer continuous coverage to the US, which will likely take several more months, if not a year or longer.
During the live stream, AST SpaceMobile also said the company is working on even more powerful satellites that’ll be three-times larger than the current BlueBird model. But the company isn’t alone in trying to power satellite connectivity to phones. AST SpaceMobile is poised to compete with SpaceX’s own cellular satellite system through Starlink, which is slated to launch later this fall through T-Mobile.