Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral. Photo: Blue Origin

AST SpaceMobile has signed on for Blue Origin’s upcoming New Glenn rocket. The launch agreement announced Thursday covers multiple New Glenn launches from Blue Origin’s launch complex at Cape Canaveral to deliver multiple next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellites. 

AST SpaceMobile President Scott Wisniewski said the company now has enough “contractually secured orbital launch capacity during 2025 and 2026 to enable continuous cellular broadband service coverage of the AST SpaceMobile network.” 

AST SpaceMobile commented that the rocket’s size, with its seven-meter fairing, is suited to launching up to eight of the Block 2 BlueBirds satellites. The Block 2 BlueBirds are even larger than the five initial BlueBird satellites and the BlueWalker 3 test satellite, and feature 2,400 square foot communications arrays. 

Blue Origin confirmed that the New Glenn rocket is on track for its first launch this year. The first vehicle is now at Cape Canaveral, with the next step of an integrated launch vehicle hotfire. The first launch will carry the Blue Origin-built space logistics vehicle Blue Ring and serve as the first National Security Space Launch certification flight for U.S. national security missions, after NASA pulled its ESCAPADE spacecraft from the manifest. 

This marks a new customer agreement for the New Glenn rocket, which also has launch deals for Telesat Lightspeed, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, along with Eutelsat Communications, Thailand’s mu Space, and Sky Perfect JSAT.