AST SpaceMobile announced on November 6, 2026 that it is building its own 20-ton rocket named Blacklift to launch its BlueBird satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). The vehicle's first flight is scheduled for late 2028, a milestone that completes the company's vertical integration strategy and places it amid a wave of new satellite constellations competing for access to space.
The Blacklift rocket will be custom-built by AST SpaceMobile itself, headquartered in Midland, Texas, and designed for reusability. Each launch will be able to carry up to five BlueBird satellites, which feature the largest phased array antenna ever launched into orbit by a commercial satellite — 2,223 square meters of area, roughly the size of a basketball court. The satellites broadcast internet directly to ordinary cellphones without requiring any modifier or special antenna, using standard 3GPP spectrum.
To accelerate development, the company signed an agreement with Firefly Aerospace, another Texas-based firm, to supply Miranda and Vira (vacuum-variant) engines for Blacklift's first three launches. Firefly already has more than a decade of development and proven flight heritage with these engines — including on the Blue Ghost mission, NASA's CLPS program, which landed and operated spacecraft on the Moon. AST SpaceMobile will acquire a perpetual license to manufacture the engines at a new U.S. facility under a $400 million deal plus 10 to 14 million shares of the company. For the first three launches, it will pay $250 million for the engines and another $250 million over three years for engineering services.
Scott Wisniewski, president of AST SpaceMobile, stated that the Miranda engine allows the company to "leapfrog the traditional five-to-ten-year development cycle" for Blacklift. With this in-house capability, the company can serve commercial and government customers across an expanded total addressable market that includes military radar, secure communications, IoT, edge computing for AI, and funded government networks — far beyond simple direct-to-device connectivity.
AST SpaceMobile has already launched 13 BlueBird satellites to date, including eight more advanced "Block 2" variants. The satellites have flown on three different vehicles so far: SpaceX's Falcon 9, Blue Origin's New Glenn, and India's Launch Vehicle Mark-3. But the company already holds contracts with other providers to launch over 100 BlueBird satellites cumulatively between 2027 and 2028, ensuring the constellation continues to expand while Blacklift is under development.
BlueBird production is running at full pace in the Midland factory, with assembly through BlueBird 51. Starting with BlueBird 34, the company uses custom ASICs, and expects to reach a production rate of six ASIC satellites per month by December 2026. Block 2 satellites deliver peak speeds of 120 Mbps per coverage cell — enough for millions of daily connections, including voice and video calls.
Service testing with operators is well underway: the company has validated the first beam handovers between terrestrial and satellite networks with AT&T in the United States. International partnerships include Rakuten in Japan, Deutsche Telekom in Europe, and agreements underway in Brazil and Colombia. The company employs over 2,250 people and operates more than 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations facilities worldwide.
AST SpaceMobile's vertical integration strategy — designing rockets, building satellites, and operating the network — reflects a growing trend in the space sector. When a constellation operator relies entirely on third parties for launches, it becomes subject to launch chain volatility, especially when SpaceX prioritizes its own Starlink satellites with Starship. Verticalization offers control but requires massive capital and carries significant technological risk.
The timing is particularly relevant given the current private space race. Just 10 days before the Blacklift announcement, Cowboy Space unveiled the Big Iron rocket to launch 20,000 AI data centers into space, also targeting a 2028 first flight. Starlab Space (formerly Stoke Space) raised $1 billion for fully reusable rockets, with launch expected in early 2027. The launch market is becoming a critical bottleneck, especially with SpaceX intending to launch 100,000 Starlink V3 satellites and up to one million Starmind AI satellites.
In a market where rockets and constellations are announced every week, AST SpaceMobile's vertical integration will either be the key to scaling global connectivity or a cost that delays it behind leaner competitors — only time will tell.
Sources: Space.com, The Journal of Space Commerce (Exterra), SEC Filing (AST SpaceMobile), BusinessWire (AST SpaceMobile Q3 2026)
✓ Independent sources cross-checked and verified before publishing
