SpaceX delivered 3 Block 2 BlueBird satellites for AST SpaceMobile from Pad 40, advancing direct-to-cell broadband with 10,650 Starlink craft now active.
SpaceX's first post-IPO acquisition targets Cursor AI for $60B as Falcon 9 lofts 3 Block 2 BlueBird satellites and Dragon CRS-34 departs ISS.
SpaceX launched three Block 2 BlueBird satellites for AST SpaceMobile from Cape Canaveral. Block 2 variants are larger with enhanced capacity compared to Block 1 units already in orbit.
AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird constellation is a bet that raw aperture size wins. Each satellite unfolds a 64-square-meter phased-array antenna in orbit, the largest commercial antenna ever deployed. The company claims a stock smartphone on the ground can connect directly to it. The competition says the physics doesn't support that. Seventeen satellites in and a contract with AT&T, Verizon, and Vodafone, somebody's math is wrong.
Blue Origin's New Glenn suffered upper-stage malfunction on April 19, stranding AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 in wrong orbit. Satellite declared lost, will deorbit.
SpaceX quietly built the world's largest 4G network without a single cell tower. Over 650 satellites now connect standard smartphones directly from orbit, and most people carrying compatible phones don't know the service exists.
