Blue Origin is set to launch AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite on Sunday morning, with a window from 6:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. ET, and the mission could mark a turning point in the race to put large communications satellites into low Earth orbit.
BlueBird 7 is the second of AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 next-generation satellites to head up, and it carries a 2,400-square-foot phased-array antenna described as the largest commercial communications array ever deployed in low Earth orbit. AST SpaceMobile says the satellite is designed to deliver 4G and 5G broadband at speeds above 120 Mbps to phones people already carry.
The timing matters because Sunday’s flight is Blue Origin’s third New Glenn mission and, if it succeeds, it would signal an end to SpaceX’s monopoly on reusable orbital launch vehicles. It also comes after last November, when the first-stage booster scheduled for Sunday’s launch flew and landed on the program’s second mission, giving the company a crucial proof point before this weekend’s attempt.
AST SpaceMobile is trying to build a network with fewer, more powerful spacecraft instead of the thousands of small satellites used by rivals. The company plans to have 45 to 60 satellites in orbit by the end of 2026 and says it wants to light up service sometime in 2025, placing real pressure on the launch schedule now.
That pressure is sharpened by the competition. Starlink’s direct-to-cell service is already operating with T-Mobile in the US, while Globalstar is the satellite network snapped up by Amazon that keeps iPhones and Apple Watches communicating in dead zones. Amazon has only been able to launch 241 Leo satellites over a 12-month time period, far fewer than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which deployed over 1,500 satellites to its Starlink constellation in the same span.
That gap shows why reusable rockets matter. Amazon needs one to speed up Leo launches, and without it the company has fallen behind schedule in deploying satellites. For AST SpaceMobile, Sunday’s launch is more than a routine ride to orbit; it is a test of whether a smaller constellation can still move fast enough to challenge a market already shaped by SpaceX and, now, by Blue Origin.
