BENGALURU: ISRO will launch the heaviest US commercial communication low-earth orbit satellite, BlueBird-6, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on December 15.
AST SpaceMobiles Inc, a Texas-based company that has built the space-based cellular broadband network, on Saturday announced this.
“BlueBird-6, a US licensed satellite, is scheduled to launch on December 15. It is the first of AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation satellites. When launched, it will feature the largest commercial phased array in low earth orbit at nearly 2,400 sqft. This represents a 3.5 times increase in size over BlueBirds 1-5 and supports ten times the data capacity,” AST SpaceMobiles said.
ISRO’s Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) rocket, popularly called as Bahubali, will put this satellite into its orbit. The launch is being handled by New Space India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of ISRO, which aims at earning revenue for the government through international launch contracts and partnerships. LVM-3 also put India’s heaviest CMS-3 satellite, weighing 4.4 tonnes, into its orbit on November 2.
The 6.5-tonne BlueBird-6 satellite, arrived in India on October 19 from the US. It was later transported by road to Sriharikotta for integration with launcher LVM3, fuelling and final checks ahead of its launch.
With the launch of this satellite, space researchers of the mission aim to provide direct-to-device mobile broadband connectivity, fast and unhindered communication and bridge the digital gap with poor terrestrial networks. With this launch, AST SpaceMobiles will become the second satellite broadband customer to fly on LVM3 after Eutelsat OneWeb, the researchers said.
LVM3 is a three-stage 45.5-metre heavy lift vehicle with a lift-off mass of 640 tonnes. It is capable of placing heavy satellites in the designated orbits of 600km altitude.