TAMPA, Fla. — AST SpaceMobile is paying SpaceX $5 million more to launch its first commercial direct-to-smartphone satellites early next year to a different orbital inclination to improve coverage for a potential customer.
The Texas-based operator said Nov. 14 it now expects to spend a total $115 million on the first five BlueBird satellites, including manufacturing, launch and other costs, to deploy them at a 53-degree inclination in low Earth orbit (LEO).
This inclination is greater than originally planned and would expand initial coverage up to 59 degrees latitude for both northern and southern hemispheres, B. Riley analyst Mike Crawford said, notably into North America where AST SpaceMobile’s telco partner AT&T operates.
AT&T, one of AST SpaceMobile’s most vocal advocates, is helping the six-year-old constellation hopeful get the regulatory approval needed to connect mobile subscribers via satellites when they stray beyond the telco’s cell towers across the United States.
Crawford said AST SpaceMobile’s last-minute deployment change suggests the company is close to signing a definitive commercial agreement with AT&T.
AST SpaceMobile builds its satellites in-house, including the BlueWalker 3 prototype launched in September 2022 with a 64-square-meter antenna — the largest deployed commercially in LEO.
During AST SpaceMobile’s Nov. 14 earnings announcement, the company said the first batch of five fully funded BlueBirds are on track to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket in the first three months of 2024.
Five BlueBirds would be enough for intermittent connectivity services the venture says are suitable for government and commercial device monitoring applications.
While the BlueBirds in this first batch are the same size as BlueWalker 3 at around 1,500 kilograms each, the company is in talks to fund additional commercial satellites that would be 50% larger to improve performance.
Abel Avellan, AST SpaceMobile’s CEO,…
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