AST Space Mobile is launching space-based cell towers, BlueBird satellites into space. It has selected SpaceX for the launch and will be paying at least $22.75 million which also covers the adjustment of its earlier BlueWalker 3 launch contract. With this deal, SpaceX is set to be the primary launch provider for the 243 constellation satellites.
An SEC filing made around the same time states that AST SpaceMobile will pay SpaceX at least $22.75 million to “adjust” its upcoming BlueWalker 3 launch contract, cover an “initial payment” for the launch of BlueBird 1, and pay the reservation fee for a second launch for BlueBird 2. While only representing three probably ‘launch service agreements,’ the decision sets SpaceX up to be the company’s primary launch provider for a constellation of as many as 243 large communications satellites.
While choosing SpaceX – the most affordable and available launch provider on Earth – is far from unexpected, the satellites SpaceX will be launching for AST are anything but traditional. Driven largely by the technical requirements of AST SpaceMobile’s goal of directly connecting unmodified mobile phones to the internet through satellite in orbit, the company has completely ignored the relatively common satellite design trope of a central ‘bus’ with two solar array ‘wings.’
According to an SEC filing, AST SpaceMobile is paying $22.75 million, which covers “technical adjustments” to its earlier BlueWalker 3 launch contract, initial payment for the first BlueBird launch and a reservation fee for a future BlueBird launch. https://t.co/87az8iTW0X https://t.co/w2qHEopeUU
— Jeff Foust (@jeff_foust) March 9, 2022
BlueBirds
Instead, AST’s BlueBird satellites will launch with their antennas effectively folded around their ‘bus’ like a giant origami cocoon. Once in orbit, using a fairly elegant extension of normal solar array deployment mechanisms, the satellite’s antenna will slowly unfold and eventually return to its default shape – a giant, flat surface. For a number of reasons, AST SpaceMobile recently decided to halve the total area of its BlueBird satellites, but the new design will still feature an immense 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 AST wants to deploy in space.
Thanks to those massive antennas, though, AST says its BlueBirds will theoretically be able to “reach over 700 million unconnected people,” though it’s less clear how many users the constellation – or a single satellite – will be able to simultaneously support. Additionally, located in low Earth orbit (LEO), an uninterrupted connection will only be possible once a string of satellites has been launched into roughly the same orbital plane. Until then, the service will be intermittent – a huge boon for emergency communications in remote areas but hard to use for much else in the interim.
Credits- Teslarati
