AST SpaceMobile

AST SpaceMobile is a publicly traded satellite designer and manufacturer based in Midland, Texas, United States. The company is building the SpaceMobile satellite constellation, a space-based cellular broadband network that will allow existing, unmodified smartphones to connect to satellites in areas with coverage gaps. Its BlueWalker 3 prototype satellite is the largest commercial communications array in low Earth orbit after its launch in 2022.

History
AST SpaceMobile was founded in May 2017 by Abel Avellan as AST & Science LLC. Avellan remains the chairman and chief executive officer of the company. Originally from Venezuela, Avellan is a United States citizen who previously worked for Swedish telecommunications conglomerate Ericsson. In 1999, Avellan founded Emerging Markets Communications, a satellite-based communications services provider to maritime and other mobility markets, which was acquired in 2016 for US$550 million.

AST & Science purchased a controlling interest in NanoAvionics, a Lithuanian satellite manufacturing company, on March 6, 2018.

In March 2020, AST & Science LLC announced a Series B investment round, led by Vodafone and Rakuten, that raised $110 million for the company. Samsung Next, American Tower, and Cisneros also participated.

New Providence's first special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) announced in April 2021 that its shareholders had approved a proposal to form AST SpaceMobile in a business combination with AST & Science LLC. AST SpaceMobile began to trade on the Nasdaq in the week after that announcement. New Providence had raised $462 million through an initial public offering (IPO) and a private investment in public equity (PIPE) to fully fund the development and first phase of its satellite constellation.

AST SpaceMobile does not expect to begin generating revenue until the company launches its operational satellites. The mobile network operators with whom the company has agreements and understandings collectively serve over 1.8 billion existing subscribers.

In July 2022, Nokia announced that it had won a five-year 4G and 5G deal from AST SpaceMobile.

AST SpaceMobile sold its majority ownership stake in NanoAvionics to Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace in September 2022.

In January 2024, AST SpaceMobile announced a new partnership with Google and AT&T to collaborate on product development, testing, and implementation plans for bringing satellite connectivity to Android smartphones.

In May 2024, the company announced a partnership with Verizon to expand coverage to more remote parts of the United States, beyond the reach of a land-based network.

Deployment
BlueWalker 1, the first satellite of AST & Science LLC, was launched on April 1, 2019 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in India on the 47th mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C45). Lithuanian smallsat company NanoAvionics built BlueWalker 1. The satellite decayed from orbit on 29 November 2023.

In July 2021, AST SpaceMobile announced an agreement with SpaceX to launch its second satellite, BlueWalker 3. It successfully launched on September 10, 2022, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A. The 693-square-foot (64 m2) antenna array of BlueWalker 3 was successfully unfolded to full deployment on November 10, 2022. AST SpaceMobile expects BlueWalker 3 to have a field of view of over 300,000 square miles on Earth. , BlueWalker 3 maintains low Earth orbit at an altitude between approximately 508 and 527 km. On April 25 2023, AST SpaceMobile made the world's first space-based two-way telephone call with unmodified smartphones (a Samsung Galaxy S22 and an Apple iPhone) using the satellite. The call was made from Midland, Texas to Japan using an AT&T 2G cellular frequency spectrum.

In March 2022, AST SpaceMobile announced a multi-launch contract with SpaceX to launch its first BlueBird operational satellite. AST SpaceMobile states that it will be able to produce up to six BlueBird satellites per month at two manufacturing sites in Midland, Texas. The company has attributed delays in the deployment schedule of its operational satellites to supply chain issues and price increases. In March 2023, AST SpaceMobile stated that it expects to launch the first five Block 1 BlueBird satellites in early 2024.

Licenses
In April 2020, AST & Science LLC petitioned the Federal Communications Commission for permission to operate a constellation of 243 communications satellites in 16 orbital planes at altitudes between 725 and 740 km.

In October 2020, NASA filed a letter with the FCC during the public-comment period related to this petition to express concerns about the risk of collisions between the SpaceMobile satellite constellation and the A-train satellite constellation, due to the proposed orbital altitude for SpaceMobile as well as the size and scale of the SpaceMobile project. In November 2020, NASA submitted a second letter to the FCC to revise its original stance as a result of AST SpaceMobile's demonstrated interest in collaborating with NASA to mitigate risks. In its second letter, NASA stated that technical concerns "need not preclude the issuance of the requested license" and that NASA had no concern with the license being granted. Three United States Senators and one United States Congressman also filed letters with the FCC in support of SpaceMobile.

United States wireless provider AT&T has partnered with AST SpaceMobile in a joint effort to provide satellite-based wireless service to remote areas of its coverage area. AT&T has filed a letter with the FCC in support of the petition for a license to operate in the United States, while AT&T's major competitors T-Mobile and Verizon have asked the FCC to deny such a license.

In May 2022, the FCC granted AST SpaceMobile an experimental license to connect to the BlueWalker 3 satellite. The FCC has neither granted nor denied a license for AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird operational satellites.

Impact on astronomy
The SpaceMobile constellation has drawn criticism for its potential contribution to light pollution in the night sky, as well as radio-frequency interference with certain telescopes that operate outside of the visible light spectrum.

Observations of BlueWalker 3 were obtained after it unfolded into a large flat-panel shape in November 2022. The measurements indicate that the fully deployed satellite is very bright and usually approaches first magnitude when it is near the zenith.

Follow-up observations revealed three deep but temporary periods of reduced brightness. The dimming was attributed to a change in the orientation of the flat-panel needed in order to boost solar power generation. This finding indicated that the satellite operator can reduce the luminosity of their constellation and mitigate its adverse impact on astronomy by making a small adjustment to the spacecraft orientation.

Additional criticism was focused on the proliferation of similar satellites being developed by AST SpaceMobile which - as a group - could have a deleterious impact to the science of astronomy. Notes the New York Times, "they create bright trails and an ambient glow in the sky that can destroy astronomical images and obscure fainter celestial objects that would otherwise be visible to the naked eye."