The competition to offer mobile internet from space is intensifying and AST SpaceMobile of Texas is nearing a major inflection point in its near star crossing involvement in this field. The satellite, BlueBird 6, which is latest and the heaviest one ever built by AST SpaceMobile has completed test runs and is poised for launch from India. This mission is a great leap in the innovations for global telecoms using the American technology and support from Indian launch.
What is BlueBird Satellite?
BlueBird 6 is no ordinary satellite, and it was designed by AST SpaceMobile in order to bring direct to smartphone connectivity to users from space without going through intermediaries of the traditional cellular infrastructure. It is Weighing in at about 6,500 kilograms; it is one of the heaviest payloads to be carried by the Indian LVM3 rocket.
Its gigantic 64-square-meter phased array antenna is for direct transmission of high-speed broadband up to about 120 megabits per second to mobile phones and even in remote or underserved locations. This revolutionary ability could very much change mobile access in districts where terrestrial networks exist, weak or entirely absent.
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What is AST SpaceMobile & its Internet Beaming Satellites?
AST SpaceMobile is constructing a constellation of advanced satellites under the BlueBird series with the initial five prototype satellites are now in orbit and the company is turning its focus to Block-2 satellites, which are meant to provide global service coverage over the next two years.
AST intends to launch up to 60 satellites, including BlueBirds 7-16, over the next two years with missions scheduled nearly every 1 to 2 months throughout 2025 and 2026. Its partnerships with over 50 telecom operators reaching nearly 3 billion users signify the possible scale of this global initiative.
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What are the Series of Lags on the Launch of BlueBird 6?
The BlueBird 6 has been postponed several times launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation firstly in March 2025, it changed to July and subsequently to early 2026 because of changes in priorities on ISRO’s side. The CMS-02 satellite, another communications payload was priority over the LVM3-M5 and pushing BlueBird 6 to the LVM3-M6 mission. According to industry sources, there are also speculations of some internal delays that may have been instigated by the American company during the shuffle.
What is India’s Role & Next Steps?
BlueBird 6 is to be launched from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre after being transported by Antonov cargo plane to Chennai and overland to the spaceport. After reaching there, ISRO will initiate a 30–45-day pre-launch phase which includes integration, fueling and final checks. This would if successful, greatly enhance internet accessibility worldwide and would witness the glory of India in the commercial space sector because of its collaboration with NSIL and the commercial arm of ISRO.
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Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available sources and official statement’s and it does not represent any endorsement or insider information.
