AST SpaceMobile said on November 6 that it will build its own 20-ton rocket, Blacklift, to launch the satellites behind its phone-based broadband network. The announcement, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, targets a start in late 2028 and pairs the rocket with a deal for engines from Firefly Aerospace.
The payload explains the plan. AST's BlueBird satellites are designed to work directly with standard, unmodified phones, so each launch adds capacity to a network meant for ordinary handsets.
How the plan works
The plan has three parts, and they fit together in order.
The first part is the vehicle. AST says Blacklift will be custom-built and designed for reusability, with up to five BlueBird satellites on each launch to low Earth orbit. For comparison, Space.com puts the Falcon 9's capacity to the same kind of orbit at about 25 tons.
The second part is propulsion. Firefly's Miranda engine will power the booster and its Vira engine the upper stage, Space.com reports. AST's filing says Firefly will deliver the engines for the first three rockets for $250 million, and provide engineering support over three years for another $250 million.
The third part is the unusual one. AST is also buying a perpetual license to manufacture Miranda and the vacuum-variant Vira itself, at a new US engine plant. That costs about $800 million up front, made up of $400 million in cash and 10 to 14 million shares of Class A stock. After the first three rockets, Space.com reports, the engines are AST's to build.
The logic follows from there. BlueBirds have so far flown on SpaceX's Falcon 9, Blue Origin's New Glenn and India's Launch Vehicle Mark-3, according to Space.com. CEO Abel Avellan's stated aim is "regular unconstrained access to orbit." Space.com adds that a launch crunch for satellite operators could follow once SpaceX phases out Falcon 9 after Starship is running.
What is proven and what isn't
Here the two sources need reading side by side. AST's release describes "a proven engine architecture with flight heritage," and says the design has over a decade of development behind it. Space.com states that neither Miranda nor Vira has flight experience, noting that Firefly's operational Alpha rocket uses different engines, Reavers and Lightnings.
Those claims aren't necessarily in conflict, since "architecture" is a broader word than "engine," but the distinction matters. The evidence for Miranda itself is ground testing: AST's release cites more than 175 hot-fire tests totalling over 4,200 seconds, and a flight-like test at 110% of its 230,000 lbf thrust.
AST President Scott Wisniewski says Miranda will let the company "leapfrog the traditional five-to-ten-year development cycle." That is a company projection, and so is the late 2028 start.
What happens next
AST isn't waiting on Blacklift to keep deploying. It says agreements with external launch providers now cover more than 100 BlueBirds between 2027 and 2028, and Space.com reports that 13 have been launched to date.
The next fixed date is November 12, when AST plans a Blacklift unveiling event in New York City, webcast through its investor relations site. That's where to look for details the announcement leaves open, including the launch site and how the rocket will be reused.
Reporting notes
