Indian rocket launches record-breaking BlueBird 6 smartphone satellite to orbit (video)
An Indian LVM3 rocket successfully launched the massive BlueBird 6 smartphone satellite for AST SpaceMobile to orbit on Tuesday night (Dec. 23).
An Indian rocket launched the record-breaking BlueBird 6 smartphone satellite to orbit on Tuesday night (Dec. 23).
An Indian LVM3 rocket launches the BlueBird 6 smartphone satellite for AST SpaceMobile on Dec. 23, 2025. (Image credit: ISRO)
AST SpaceMobile is building a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) that beam broadband service directly to standard smartphones on the ground.
The company has now launched six operational satellites to orbit, five of them aboard a single SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in September 2024. Those previous spacecraft, BlueBirds 1 through 5, feature 693-square-foot (64.4 square meters) communication arrays — the largest ever unfurled in LEO.
BlueBird 6 will break that record, and by a healthy margin. It's the first of AST SpaceMobile's next-generation BlueBirds, whose arrays cover nearly 2,400 square feet (223 square meters) apiece.
India's LVM3 rocket on the pad ahead of the successful Dec. 23, 2025 launch of the BlueBird 6 satellite for AST SpaceMobile. (Image credit: ISRO)
Tuesday's liftoff was the ninth overall for the three-stage, 143-foot-tall (43.5 m) LVM3, which is India's most powerful rocket. It debuted in December 2014 and has a 100% success rate to date.
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BlueBird 6, which tips the scales at about 13,450 pounds (6,100 kilograms), was the heaviest payload that the LVM3 has ever hauled to LEO, according to the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Editor's note: This story was updated at 11 p.m. ET on Dec. 23 with news of successful launch and satellite deployment.
Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.