Starlink Rival announces plans to face Musk with a $ 1.5 billion satellite thrust

The Texas Ast Spacemobile startup announced its launch plan from 45 to 60 satellites by 2026, standing up as a worthy competitor of the Starlink of Spacex constellation in the construction of large space -band networks.

The company announced its results in the second quarter on Monday, revealing that it had $ 1.5 billion on its record to finance the deployment of dozens of its satellites, CNBC reported. The next day, AST Spacemobile’s actions climbed more than 10% with the prospect of the company offering coverage in the United States, as well as in Europe, Japan and other key markets.

AST Spacemobile launched its first satellite, BlueWalker 3, in September 2022 to test its long -term plan to establish a large cellular network based on space directly accessible by mobile phones. A year later, the company used its satellite prototype to make the first 5G telephone call from space to an ordinary Samsung Galaxy S22. Since then, AST has launched five other satellites, named BlueBird, and he wants to send 243 more to Orbit.

In an effort to accelerate its orbital cell phone tricks, AST aims for four additional launches at the end of March 2026. “We have planned orbital launches of every one to two months on average in 2025 and 2026,” said Abel Avellan, founder and CEO of Ast Spacemobile, in a press release.

With this substantial increase in rhythm, AST reproduces to the leader in the SpaceX industry. Naturally, the two companies are locked in a quarrel match on which has the right to litter the low terrestrial orbit with massive constellations. Last month, SpaceX sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission to raise the concern of the AST Spacemobile constitutes a threat to the sustainability of the low terrestrial orbit.

To be fair, the Bluewalker 3 was odiously large, with a tennis size network which extended over 693 square feet after the satellite was completely deployed. SpaceX satellites, however, do not obtain exactly a good representative. Starlinks are known to interfere with astronomical observations of the cosmos despite certain efforts of the company to mitigate the question.

Things will only get worse from here. SpaceX plans to deploy thousands of more from its Starlink satellites, while AST’s second generation Bluebird satellites are three times larger than the first batch. There are other companies that also hope to participate in action, such as the Amazon Kuiper project, which now has more than 100 satellites in orbit. Starlink could soon lose his monopolizing reign by low terrestrial orbit while more satellites fill the sky.