Starlink Rival Announces Plans to Take on Musk With a $1.5 Billion Satellite Push

Texas Startup AST Spacemobile has announced plans to launch satellites from 1 to 60 by 2026, which has established itself as a suitable competitor to create space-based broadband networks for SpaceX’s Starlink Stars.

The company announced on Monday that its second-thymian earnings revealed that its balance sheet has a dozen satellite of its balance sheet $ 1.5 billion in its balance sheet, CNBC ReportThe The next day, the AST Spacemobile shares increased by more than 10% and increased by 10% with the possibility of providing coverage to Europe, Japan and other main markets as well as the United States.

AST spacemobile The first satellite, Bluewalker 3 launched in September 2022 To check the long-term plan for establishing a space-based cellular broadband network directly accessible by cell phone. A year later, the company used its prototype satellite Continue the first 5G phone call from place A regular Samsung Galaxy S22. Since then, AST has launched five more satellites called Bluebird and wants to send 243 more in orbit.

In an attempt to ramp the cellphone towers in the orbit, AST aims to launch four additional launches by March 20226. StatementThe

With this great increase in speed, the AST industry leader is moving away to SpaceX. Naturally, the two companies are stuck in a quarrelsome match that holds a liter of liter orbit of the liter of the Earth in the vast constellation. Last month the SpaceX sent a letter to the Federal Communication Commission Raise anxiety that AST has given a threat to spacemobile For the durability of the lower world orbit.

Frankly, Bluewaller 3 was incompletely large, a tennis court-shaped array that extended across 693 square feet after the satellite was fully spread. SpaceX satellites, however, do not get exactly a good representative. Starlinks are known The intervention of the universe Despite some efforts to the organization to alleviate the matter.

Things are about to get worse than here. SpaceX plans to set up thousands of satellites, while the second generation of AST is three times larger than the first batch of AST. Other companies are also expecting to enter the action, as Amazon Project Quiper, There are now more than 100 satellites in the orbit. Starlink may soon lose its exclusive kingdom in short orbit because the satellite fills the sky.