Starlink rival launches world's largest commercial satellite to space

Texas-based AST SpaceMobile has launched BlueBird 6, the world’s largest commercial communications satellite, aboard India’s LVM3 rocket on December 23. This next-generation satellite is roughly three times larger than its predecessors, with an unfurled array measuring 2,400 square feet (223 square meters), making it the biggest commercial satellite currently in Earth’s orbit. BlueBird 6 is designed to provide 5G smartphone coverage directly from space, supporting 10 gigahertz of bandwidth and speeds up to 120 megabytes per second, as part of AST SpaceMobile’s effort to create the first space-based cellular broadband network and compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. Since launching its first satellite, BlueWalker 3, in 2022—which successfully conducted the first 5G phone call from space—AST SpaceMobile has deployed six BlueBird satellites, with plans to launch 45-60 more by 2026 to expand 5G coverage across the US and other regions