AST SpaceMobile plans to launch the Blacklift rocket in 2028 — Ars Technica

Telecommunications company AST SpaceMobile has announced plans to develop the three-stage Blacklift rocket to launch its own Bluebird satellites into low Earth orbit. The company plans to conduct its first launch in 2028 from the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, which was previously used for the Antares rocket, Ars Technica reports.

A rocket for Bluebird satellites

AST SpaceMobile founder and CEO Abel Avellan said that Blacklift is being designed to deploy five Bluebird satellites into orbit at the same time. According to him, the rocket will have a payload capacity of 20 metric tons, a reusable first stage, three stages, and composite tanks.

The company expects to carry out two launches per month. Avellan called the rocket project simple and explained the decision by the shortage of available commercial launches. He noted that AST SpaceMobile is developing Blacklift not because it wants to operate in the launch market, but because of demand for its satellites and a lack of launch opportunities.

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Engines and financing

AST SpaceMobile has committed to spend $1.3 billion to purchase engines from Firefly Aerospace for the first three Blacklift launches, as well as on a license for further engine production. The company plans to use the Miranda first-stage engine and the Vira upper-stage engine.

At the same time, Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim said that qualification testing of Miranda is still ongoing. As Ars Technica notes, there is also little publicly available data on Vira's readiness.

AST SpaceMobile President Scott Wisniewski said that the company intends to spend several hundred million dollars on Blacklift development in 2027. At the end of September, AST SpaceMobile had about $2.8 billion in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents. According to the publication, the company has already invested more than $1 billion in engines.