Update: The Falcon 9 lifted off on time and successfully deployed all five BlueBird satellites.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will launch with the first five commercial satellites in AST's new SpaceMobile cellular constellation. The satellites, called “BlueBird,” are a precursor to the next generation of its satellites.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 4:52 a.m. EDT (0852 UTC), opening a four-hour window. However, weather could be a factor that ruins the launch's timing.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning approximately one hour before liftoff.
The weather ahead of the launch is far from ideal. The 45th Weather Squadron forecast only a 30 percent chance of favorable weather conditions during the launch period.
“A stalled front extending through the region and above-normal atmospheric moisture will continue to increase the chances for showers and thunderstorms at the spaceport this week,” forecasters wrote. “The front may be directly overhead during the initial launch window early Thursday morning, and combined with a ground breeze, the probability of violation will be high, with cumulus rule, thick cloud layer rule, and surface electric field rule all possible.”
A 24-hour turnaround would improve the weather until the coin flip. One fortunate part of the mission for SpaceX is that the rocket supporting the mission, tail number B1078, will land at landing zone 1 (LZ-1) after stage separation. That means weather at a drone launch site won't be a potential obstacle to launch.
Prior to BlueBird’s launch, B1078 flew 12 times, supporting a Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station, the national security mission USSF-124, a pair of SES’s O3b mPOWER satellites, and nine Starlink flights.
Blue birds fly
The mission is the second launch for AST SpaceMobile, a company that describes itself as “building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space that operates directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive portfolio of intellectual property and patents.”
It is also a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq under the name “ASTS.” Its first launch was on another SpaceX mission, when it sent up its BlueWalker-3 satellite.
Each of the five BlueBird satellites will include a communications system spanning 693 square feet “to establish connectivity directly with cellular phones via 3GPP standard frequencies and in partnership with major cellular service providers around the world.” The upcoming first generation of Block 2 satellites will have a footprint of 2,400 square feet.
In early August, the company announced it had received an initial space operations license from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This allows AST SpaceMobile to “launch and operate V, S, and UHF frequencies to support backhaul, telemetry, tracking, and control operations for the first five commercial BlueBird satellites,” according to AST SpaceMobile.
“This regulatory milestone is a significant step toward achieving 100% nationwide coverage from space in the continental United States with premium cellular spectrum,” Scott Wisniewski, president of AST SpaceMobile, said in a statement. “Through our strategic alliances with companies like AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone and other key partners around the world, our goal is to improve cellular connectivity globally, essentially eliminating dead zones and bringing space-based cellular broadband connectivity to remote areas.”
These first five Block 1 satellites will allow AST SpaceMobile to begin beta testing of a nationwide, discontinuous service through AT&T and Verizon. The mission has been delayed for years, in part due to supply chain issues, according to quarterly earnings reports.
In 2022, Space News reported that the initial five satellites would need to be “similar in size and weight” to the BlueWalker 3 prototype. According to its second-quarter earnings summary, approximately 95 percent of production of 17 Block 2 satellites has been completed at its manufacturing facility in Tessas.
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