The largest satellite ever built is already in orbit: 223 m² to challenge Starlink

BlueBird 6, the largest commercial satellite ever placed in orbit, which occupies an impressive 223 m² with the antenna fully open, promises to revolutionize communications, directly facing Elon Musk’s Starlink. It’s a T5 apartment floating in Space.

The Texan startup launched this week, from India, the monumental BlueBird 6 — a giant satellite that, the size of a tennis court, became the largest commercial satellite orbiting the Earth.

The launch took place on December 23, aboard the rocket LVM3 of the Indian space agency, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center. Just enough 16 minutes for the satellite to reach low Earth orbit.

AST plans to launch between 45 and 60 identical satellites by the end of 2026, says the .

The objective is to create the first spatial broadband cellular network accessible directly from conventional cell phoneswithout the need for additional equipment.

The company already has five more commercial satellites, of smaller dimensions, in orbit and expects offer 5G services in the United States and four other countries at the beginning of this year.

This proposal competes directly with the Starlink service from SpaceX. Although Elon Musk’s company operates mmore than 9,000 satellites — around 75% to 85% of all satellites in orbit — AST’s BlueBirds stand out for having significantly larger antennas.

AST has already entered into agreements with telecommunications giants such as AT&T, Verizon and Vodafone to complement traditional mobile coverage in areas with little or no connectivity. Starlink, for its part, maintains a partnership with T-Mobile in the emerging direct device connection market.

A giant in space

When the panels are fully open in space, BlueBird 6 spans approximately 223 m² — the equivalent to a tennis court or an apartment five rooms floating in orbit.

Its size far exceeds that of its predecessor BlueWalker 3which, once fully opened, covers around 64 m².

Dimension is not a mere whim. AST needs these colossal proportions so that the antennas can function as mobile space towerscapable of communicating directly with common cell phones.

According to the company, each satellite is designed to support 10 gigahertz bandwidth and offer speeds up to 120 mbps per cell phonel. This requires antennas powerful enough to reach devices that are not designed for satellite communications.

The prototype, launched in September 2022, has already demonstrated this capability by carrying out the first 5G phone call from space for a regular Samsung Galaxy S22.

However, the satellite’s brightness increased by about two magnitudes when opening the panelbecoming more luminous than most visible objects in the night sky. With BlueBird 6, which is three times larger, concerns about space light pollution they multiply.

AST SpaceMobile’s strategy involves redefining the way we connect to the internet.

Unlike other satellite systems, which require special terminals or satellite dishes, BlueBird will allow anyone with a conventional cell phone access high-speed internet practically in any point on the planet. According to experts, this could eliminate coverage dead zones that still persist in rural or remote areas.

With the aim of launching up to 243 satellites not totall, AST seeks to build a constellation capable of ensuring continuous and global coverage. The company’s data indicates that it intends to begin commercial operations in some North American markets and four other countries during the first quarter of 2026.

As Starlink and AST wage a regulatory and commercial battle, their satellites continue to fill Earth’s orbit and increasingly blocking our view of the night sky. Saturation is already critical, even without taking into account the new AST constellation.

The 9,000 Starlink satellites tripled the orbital population in just 7 years and require evasion maneuvers to be carried out every 1.8 minutes.

Satellites are forced to constantly divert to avoid collisions that could trigger the — a chain reaction capable of devastating the entire orbital infrastructure (GPS, communications, financial systems), plunging civilization into chaos.