SpaceX will launch AST Spacemobile's first space-based cell tower
AST Space Mobile says it has selected SpaceX to launch its first operational Bluebird satellite after contracting the company to launch its first flagship prototype, Bluewalker 3.
An SEC filing made around the same time said that AST Spacemobile would pay SpaceX at least $22.75 million to “adjust” its upcoming Bluewalker 3 launch contract, an “initial payment” for the launch of Bluebird 1. ” and pay the reservation fee for one. Second launch for Bluebird 2. Representing only three ‘launch service agreements’, the decision makes SpaceX the company’s primary launch provider for a group of 243 large communications satellites.
When choosing SpaceX – the most affordable and available launch provider on Earth – is far from unexpected, the satellites SpaceX launches for the AST are anything but traditional. Inspired by the technical requirements of AST Spacemobile’s goal of connecting unmodified mobile phones directly to the Internet via satellite in orbit, the company completely abandoned the relatively common satellite design trope of a central ‘bus’ with two solar array ‘wings’. is ignored.
Instead, the AST’s Bluebird satellites will be effectively folded around their ‘bus’ like a giant origami cocoon with their antennas. Once in orbit, using a fairly elegant extension of the normal solar array deployment mechanism, the satellite’s antenna will slowly unfold and eventually return to its default shape—a massive, flat surface. For a variety of reasons, AST Spacemobile recently decided to halve the total area of its Bluebird satellites, but the new design will still have a massive antenna with a surface area of about 450 square meters (~4800 square feet). Only the United States’ classified Orion spy satellites likely eclipse the size of the antennas that the AST intends to deploy in space.
Thanks to those giant antennas, though, AST says its Bluebirds will theoretically be able to “reach more than 700 million unconnected people,” though it’s less clear how many users a constellation — or a satellite — supports simultaneously. will be able to do. Additionally, located in low Earth orbit (LEO), a seamless connection would only be possible if a string of satellites were launched in approximately the same orbital plane. Until then, service will be intermittent – a huge boon for emergency communications in remote areas but difficult to access for much in the interim.
Bluewalker 3, a prototype satellite, is intended to demonstrate the AST Spacemobile’s relatively exotic satellite design, as well as demonstrate (with any luck) that it can connect hundreds or thousands of unmodified phones to the Internet such that it Be a simple cell tower. AST says it has already demonstrated a space-to-ground connection in a clever way, turning a mobile phone volume into a CubeSat and then using that orbital phone to create a simulated cell tower on Earth. is connected to the satellite. Developed for approximately $70 million, BlueWalker 3 will weigh about 1.5 tons (~3300 lb) and attempt to deploy a smaller but still representative 65-sq-metre (~693 sq ft) origami-like antenna.
AST Spacemobile hasn’t confirmed a launch date and is still working on a satellite prototype, but its latest “Summer 2022” target suggests it will launch in early June 2022 on SpaceX’s Transporter-5 rideshare mission.
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