SpaceX deploys three BlueBird broadband satellites

WASHINGTON — SpaceX has launched three AST SpaceMobile satellites designed to deliver high-speed cellular broadband directly to ordinary smartphones, expanding a constellation intended to connect users beyond the reach of terrestrial mobile towers.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 3.49 am Eastern Time on Wednesday, carrying the BlueBird 11, 12 and 13 spacecraft into low-Earth orbit.

The rocket’s reusable first stage separated as planned and landed on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean about eight and a half minutes after liftoff. The landing marked the booster’s 30th completed launch and recovery, underlining SpaceX’s growing reliance on heavily reused hardware to maintain its rapid mission schedule.

The Falcon 9 upper stage began deploying the three satellites about 53 minutes after launch. All three were released over an 11-minute period, completing the primary objectives of the mission. The same first-stage booster had carried BlueBird satellites 8, 9 and 10 into orbit in June.

The deployment increases the number of BlueBird spacecraft launched by AST SpaceMobile to 13. The company is building a space-based network capable of connecting directly with standard mobile devices without requiring specialised satellite handsets, external antennas or additional consumer equipment.

BlueBird 11, 12 and 13 are part of the company’s next-generation satellite platform. Each spacecraft carries a phased-array communications antenna measuring nearly 2,400 square feet, more than three times the size of the 693-square-foot arrays used on the first five commercial BlueBird satellites.

The large antennas are intended to establish stronger links with conventional smartphones from hundreds of kilometres above Earth. Each next-generation satellite is designed to support more than 2,000 coverage cells and process up to 10 gigahertz of bandwidth through AST SpaceMobile’s proprietary communications chips.

The satellites are expected to provide peak download speeds approaching 200 megabits per second under favourable operating conditions. Earlier BlueBird spacecraft demonstrated download speeds of 98.9 Mbps during direct connections with standard smartphones, supporting the company’s claim that the larger satellites can deliver near-terrestrial broadband performance from orbit.

AST SpaceMobile plans to begin beta services later this year as additional spacecraft become operational. Initial service areas are expected to include the United States, Canada, parts of Europe, Saudi Arabia and Japan, although commercial availability will depend on regulatory approvals, satellite deployment and agreements with mobile operators.

The Texas-based company has partnerships or commercial arrangements with nearly 60 network operators serving more than three billion subscribers. Its partners include AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, Bell Canada, Telus and Saudi Arabia’s stc Group, alongside technology and infrastructure companies such as Google and American Tower.

AST SpaceMobile’s system is aimed primarily at eliminating mobile coverage gaps rather than replacing terrestrial networks. Customers would remain connected through their existing network providers, with satellite capacity activated when conventional towers are unavailable.

That model places the company in a fast-growing direct-to-device market that also includes SpaceX’s Starlink, Lynk Global and satellite operators working with mobile network groups. SpaceX has already begun providing limited direct-to-cell services through modified Starlink satellites, creating an unusual relationship in which it serves as both launch provider and potential competitor to AST SpaceMobile.

The BlueBird programme has faced technical and scheduling setbacks. BlueBird 6, the first next-generation spacecraft, reached orbit aboard an ISRO LVM3 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in December 2025. BlueBird 7 was launched aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket in April but entered an unusable orbit following an upper-stage problem and was designated for disposal.