AST SpaceMobile BlueBird: broadband from space

A Radically Different Satellite Design

AST SpaceMobile takes a fundamentally different approach to D2D by deploying the largest commercial phased-array antennas ever flown in space. Each BlueBird satellite unfolds an antenna array of approximately 64 square meters, creating sufficient gain to establish broadband links with standard smartphones. While Starlink D2D offers messaging-grade connectivity, AST SpaceMobile targets voice calls and data speeds of 10 to 20 Mbps per beam. The massive antenna enables narrower beams that concentrate power on smaller ground cells, improving spectral efficiency and enabling frequency reuse…