Communications

SPACEMOBILE-004

Direct-to-cell communications · AST SpaceMobile

SpaceMobile-004 completes the five-satellite BlueBird cluster AST SpaceMobile launched together on September 12, 2024, the founding members of a commercial constellation built to deliver cellular broadband directly to ordinary smartphones from orbit. Each satellite in the group carries a giant unfolding phased-array antenna — roughly 700 square feet, the size of a small studio apartment — because directly receiving a standard phone's comparatively weak signal from hundreds of miles up requires far more collecting area than a conventional communications satellite needs. After a multi-month calibration period, the five BlueBirds began test calls with carrier partners AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, and Bell, with AST SpaceMobile positioning the fleet as the foundation of a global cellular network that never requires users to buy new hardware or switch providers — just an ordinary phone, connecting to space the same way it already connects to a cell tower on the ground.