A Texas telecommunications startup launched its first five massive “BlueBird” communications satellites into orbit on September 12. Each device is nearly 700 feet wide when fully deployed, and like BlueWalker 3 – AST SpaceMobile’s 2022 prototype, also in orbit – every BlueBird will. will soon shine brighter than most stars and planets in the night sky. But despite the concerns of critics and experts alike, the company’s CEO promises that they will “I’m just getting started.”
Founded in 2017, AST SpaceMobile is currently working with AT&T to build the world’s first space-based mobile broadband network. In one statement ThursdayJeff McElfresh, AT&T’s chief operating officer, said it’s all part of a plan to “deliver a future where our customers will be hard to reach only when they want to.” AST SpaceMobile successfully launched its BlueWalker 3 prototype into low Earth orbit (LEO) in September 2022 and demonstrated it by a smartphone to call the following September. Less than a month after the milestone, an international study was published in Nature confirmed that BlueWalker 3’s peak brightness matched that of Procyon and Achernar, two of the ten brightest stars in the night sky. Subsequent observations recorded even higher magnitudes, comparable to the stars that make up the stars constellation Orion.
[Related: Some space junk just got smacked by more space junk, complicating cleanup.]
Each of the five BlueBirds now in orbit is approximately the same size as BlueWalker 3, meaning they will soon provide similar experiences for sky observers – sometimes even visible to the naked eye. But to achieve a reliable, fast and commercially viable satellite broadband network, AST SpaceMobile says it will have to deploy a constellation of nearly three satellites. 250 satellites.
During a livestream of Thursday’s launchThe company’s founder, chairman and CEO, Abel Avellan, said many future satellite iterations will be “three and a half times larger” than the current BlueBirds. Such a scale-up would make each new, fully deployed device approximately 2,425 square feet in diameter, or about half the size of a regulation NBA basketball court. If Gizmodo As noted on September 13, there are currently no legal restrictions on satellite brightness.
Giant satellite constellation arrays are growing at a pace that overshadows both regulators’ scrutiny and experts’ concerns. Shortly after the launch of BlueWalker 3 in 2022, the committee spoke on behalf of the International Astronomical Union unanimously condemned its delivery, describing it as “a major shift in the constellation satellite issue [that] should give us every reason to pause.
AST SpaceMobile is far from the only company pursuing similar projects. SpaceX’s ongoing Starlink internet project aims to eventually put as many as 7,000 satellites into orbit, despite its own share of public criticism. Meanwhile, advocates continue to emphasize the dangers of orbital pollution from decommissioned satellites and debris, often referred to as “space junk.” Without proper monitoring and cleanup efforts, experts have repeatedly warned of the possibility of initiating a “Kessler cascade.” In these scenarios, the unsustainable amount of man-made objects leads to ever-increasing collisions, sending debris out of orbit and endangering everything in its path.
AST SpaceMobile did not respond Popular science‘s request for comment at the time of writing.