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The largest satellite of its kind has transformed into its final shape in Earth orbit, unfurling its massive wings as part of a Texas startup’s efforts to deliver space-based cellular broadband directly to cellphones.
AST SpaceMobile announced this week that its BlueBird 6 satellite successfully deployed its communications array, making it the largest commercial satellite in space, according to the company. BlueBird 6 is the first of AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation constellation, which will consist of up to 60 satellites of the same massive size.
BlueBird 6 launched on board India’s LVM3 rocket on December 23, 2025 at 10:25 p.m. ET from the Satish Dhawan Space Center. The satellite’s array spans 2,400 square feet (223 square meters) and is designed to provide data speeds of up to 120 megabytes per second. Each satellite is designed to support 10 gigahertz of bandwidth.
The next-generation BlueBird 6 is approximately three times larger than AST’s previous iterations. The company plans on launching 45-60 more of its next-generation satellites by the end of 2026, which AST claims will allow it to offer 5G data services across the United States and some other initial markets.
AST SpaceMobile launched its first satellite, BlueWalker 3, in September 2022 to test its ability to build cellphone towers in space. Once the prototype satellite unfurled its giant array in space, its brightness increased by about 2 magnitudes and outshined most objects in the skies. Its tennis court-sized array stretches across 693 square feet (about 64 square meters).
A year later, the company used BlueWalker 3 to carry out the first 5G phone call from space, connecting to a regular Samsung Galaxy S22 down on Earth. Around two years later, AST launched five more satellites into orbit, which were just as large as the prototype
With more than 9,000 Starlink satellites, SpaceX has a monopoly on the number of satellites currently in orbit. However, AST is hoping to compete with Elon Musk’s space venture with its certified big boys.
The Texas startup also has a slight advantage because it plans to offer direct-to-cell service that requires no additional hardware. The BlueBird’s aperture is designed to enable 4G and 5G cellular broadband services, including voice, data, and video, to standard, unmodified smartphones, according to AST.
Astronomers have voiced their concerns regarding AST’s massive satellites, warning that their sheer brightness would interfere with astronomical observations of the cosmos. Meanwhile, space startups remain locked in an industrial feud to launch more cell-phone towers, littering Earth orbit with thousands of satellites.
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Source: Gizmodo