The largest satellite ever deployed in low Earth orbit has officially reached space, and its mission puts it on a direct collision course with SpaceX’s Starlink business model. Texas based AST SpaceMobile has successfully launched BlueBird 6, a satellite so large it spans roughly 2,400 square feet when fully deployed, comparable in size to a decent-sized apartment. The company believes scale is the key to solving a problem Starlink has never fully addressed: delivering broadband directly to standard smartphones without special hardware, as reported by Jalopnik.
Unlike Starlink’s constellation of relatively small satellites that require user terminals, BlueBird 6 is built around an enormous phased array antenna capable of detecting the extremely weak signals emitted by ordinary mobile phones. AST SpaceMobile’s system listens directly to those signals, processes them digitally, and routes them back to terrestrial networks through ground stations. In practice, this means a phone can switch automatically from a cell tower to a satellite connection when coverage drops, without the user doing anything at all.
AST claims the system can deliver speeds of up to 120 Mbps, which places it well beyond emergency-only satellite connectivity and into the realm of everyday mobile data. The company already counts major carriers such as AT&T and Verizon among its partners, alongside more than 50 operators globally. BlueBird 6 is the next step in a plan to deploy around 50 additional satellites as early as next year, with commercial service following soon after.
This approach directly challenges Starlink’s philosophy of quantity over size. SpaceX has launched nearly 10,000 satellites to blanket the planet, but those satellites are not designed to communicate with handheld devices. Starlink’s upcoming direct-to-cell efforts still rely on compromises in bandwidth and coverage. AST SpaceMobile is betting that fewer, much larger satellites can do the job better.
The strategy is not without controversy. Earlier AST satellites drew criticism from astronomers due to their brightness, with large reflective surfaces making them visible to the naked eye. A fleet of even larger spacecraft could worsen light pollution and interfere with ground and space based observations. SpaceX has already raised safety concerns with regulators, arguing that satellites of this size increase collision risk in an already crowded orbital environment.
As low Earth orbit becomes more congested, BlueBird 6 represents a clear escalation in the satellite connectivity race. Whether AST’s size-first approach proves more sustainable than Starlink’s mass deployment strategy may shape the future of global mobile coverage.
