MIDLAND, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 10, 2026--
AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (“AST SpaceMobile”) (NASDAQ: ASTS), the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, designed for both commercial and government applications, today announced the successful unfolding of its next-generation BlueBird 6 satellite.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260210108166/en/
BlueBird 6 features the largest commercial communications array antenna ever deployed in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Spanning approximately 2,400 square feet, the satellite is engineered to support peak data speeds of up to 120 Mbps with plans to deliver up to ten times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird 1-5 series. The aperture enables full 4G and 5G cellular broadband services, including voice, data, and video to standard, unmodified smartphones everywhere. The company is on track to launch 45–60 satellites by the end of 2026, with launches planned every one or two months on average.
The performance of BlueBird 6 is driven by several major breakthroughs in space-based architecture. The massive antenna array significantly allows the satellite to reliably transmit and receive signals from standard handheld devices. Furthermore, the large aperture enables highly precise beamforming, creating narrower, more focused coverage areas. This precision minimizes interference, maximizes network capacity, and ensures consistent, high-quality user experience for cellular broadband services, including voice, data, and video.
"BlueBird 6 is the result of specialized American manufacturing combined with world-class engineering ingenuity," said Abel Avellan, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of AST SpaceMobile. "We are not just building satellites; we built a new way to manufacture innovative space technology at scale, and we have cultivated a highly skilled workforce capable of operating at the frontier of aerospace and telecommunications. These teams are contributing directly to developing unprecedented capabilities that will change how the world connects in a market we invented. We have developed a unique design and a proprietary process, and we are building the future of connectivity right here at home."
This milestone represents years of innovation and proprietary engineering, supported by more than 3,800 patent and patent pending claims, and is yet another step in the Company’s execution of its commercial roadmap, validating its differentiated, vertically integrated manufacturing and technology platform.
The company operates nearly 500,000 square feet of manufacturing and operations facilities and employs a workforce of nearly 1,800 people. The company is 95% vertically integrated, maintaining strict United States control over the manufacturing process.
AST SpaceMobile has agreements with over 50 mobile network operators globally with nearly 3 billion subscribers combined and strategic partnerships with AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Rakuten, Google, American Tower, Bell and stc Group.
About AST SpaceMobile
AST SpaceMobile is building the first and only global cellular broadband network in space to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices based on our extensive IP and patent portfolio, and designed for both commercial and government applications. Our engineers and space scientists are on a mission to enable 4G and 5G space-based cellular broadband to every device, everywhere, for today’s nearly 6 billion mobile subscribers globally. For more information, follow AST SpaceMobile on YouTube, X (Formerly Twitter), LinkedIn and Facebook. Watch this video for an overview of the SpaceMobile mission.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains “forward-looking statements” that are not historical facts, and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results of AST SpaceMobile to differ materially from those expected and projected. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the words “believes,” “estimates,” “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “may,” “will,” “would,” “potential,” “projects,” “predicts,” “continue,” or “should,” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside AST SpaceMobile’s control and are difficult to predict.
Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) expectations regarding AST SpaceMobile’s strategies and future financial performance, including AST’s future business plans or objectives, expected functionality of the SpaceMobile Service, anticipated timing of the launch of the Block 2 BlueBird satellites, anticipated demand and acceptance of mobile satellite services, prospective performance and commercial opportunities and competitors, the timing of obtaining regulatory approvals, ability to finance its research and development activities, commercial partnership acquisition and retention, products and services, pricing, marketing plans, operating expenses, market trends, revenues, liquidity, cash flows and uses of cash, capital expenditures, and AST SpaceMobile’s ability to invest in growth initiatives; (ii) the negotiation of definitive agreements with mobile network operators relating to the SpaceMobile Service that would supersede preliminary agreements and memoranda of understanding and the ability to enter into commercial agreements with other parties or government entities; (iii) the ability of AST SpaceMobile to grow and manage growth profitably and retain its key employees and AST SpaceMobile’s responses to actions of its competitors and its ability to effectively compete; (iv) changes in applicable laws or regulations; (v) the possibility that AST SpaceMobile may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors; (vi) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against AST SpaceMobile; and (vii) other risks and uncertainties indicated in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including those in the Risk Factors section of AST SpaceMobile’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 3, 2025 and Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 12, 2025 and November 10, 2025.
AST SpaceMobile cautions that the foregoing list of factors is not exclusive. AST SpaceMobile cautions readers not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. For information identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors in AST SpaceMobile’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 3, 2025 and Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 12, 2025 and November 10, 2025. AST SpaceMobile’s securities filings can be accessed on the EDGAR section of the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Except as expressly required by applicable securities law, AST SpaceMobile disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
AST SpaceMobile 2,400 square feet phased array
ATLANTA (AP) — The FBI relied on years-old claims about the 2020 presidential election, many of which had been thoroughly investigated and found to have no connection to widespread fraud, to obtain a search warrant for seizing ballots from election offices in Fulton County, Georgia, according to an affidavit unsealed Tuesday that shows the case began with a referral from an administration official who tried to help President Donald Trump overturn his election loss.
The affidavit provides the first public justification for an FBI search last month that targeted a county Trump and his allies have long seen as central to their false claim that the 2020 election was stolen. It cites claims that for years have been made by people who assert widespread fraud in the contest, even though audits, state officials, courts and Trump's own former attorney general have all rejected the idea of widespread problems that could have altered the outcome.
The investigation was initiated by a referral from Kurt Olsen, who advised Trump as his campaign and supporters lost dozens of lawsuits challenging the 2020 election and now serves as Trump's “director of election security and integrity” overseeing the attempt to investigate Trump’s loss, according to the affidavit.
The search of the heavily Democratic county stirred immediate concerns among Democrats that Trump was marshaling the powers of the FBI and Justice Department to pursue retribution over his persistent claims of a stolen election and because of the unusual presence of Tulsi Gabbard, the country's director of national intelligence. The affidavit makes no mention of any evidence of foreign interference in the 2020 election even though the possibility of such meddling has been a longstanding conspiracy theory among Trump supporters who question the vote count.
Democrat Joe Biden won Georgia by about 11,800 votes in an election overseen by a Republican secretary of state and certified by a Republican governor.
Georgia officials fighting in court for the return of the ballots have decried the search, with Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts on Tuesday calling the allegations “recycled rumors, lies, untruths and unproven conspiracy theories.”
“These accusations have already been debunked, but here we go again on a merry-go-round,” Pitts said. “Fulton County will fight. We’ll fight this with every resource that’s at our disposal and we will not stop fighting.”
The affidavit says the FBI is examining possible “deficiencies or defects” in the Fulton County vote count, including its admission that it does not have scanned images of all the ballots counted during the original count or the recount. Fulton County has also confirmed that some ballots were scanned multiple times during the recount, the affidavit says.
“If these deficiencies were the result of intentional action, it would be a violation of federal law regardless of whether the failure to retain records or the deprivation of a fair tabulation of a vote was outcome determinative for any particular election or race,” the document says.
The affidavit says seizure of the election records was necessary to determine whether any records “were destroyed and or the tabulation of votes included materially false votes.” It cites potential violations of a law regarding the preservation and retention of election records, a misdemeanor. It also cites a law that makes it a crime to “knowingly and willfully” deprive residents of a “fair and impartially conducted election process,” which is a felony.
But the document also expresses uncertainty about whether the potential defects constitute a crime, noting that elections in Fulton County have already been the subject of multiple reviews.
Investigations into complaints by the secretary of state’s office, an independent monitor and a performance review by the state elections board, which came at the urging of the Republican-controlled legislature, reached similar conclusions.
After a particularly disastrous primary election in 2020, an independent monitor was hired to observe the general election that year as part of an agreement between the county and the State Election Board. He documented “sloppy processes” and “systemic disorganization” but found no evidence of illegality or fraud.
Republican state lawmakers in 2021 used a provision of a new law to initiate a performance review of the county’s election practices. That review found that the county’s elections had been characterized by “disorganization and a lack of a sense of urgency in resolving issues.” But it also found the county had shown marked improvement.
According to the affidavit, the review board stated, “we do not see any evidence of fraud, intentional misconduct, or large systematic issues that would have affected the result of the November 2020 election.”
One of the central allegations is that someone inserted 17,852 “duplicate” ballot images into the Fulton County file. But the affidavit quotes one witness as noting that those potentially fake images were actually more pro-Trump than the confirmed Fulton County votes. This indicated to the witness, the affidavit states, “that the introduction of duplicate ballots was intended to make the recount numbers match more than to affect the outcome of the election.”
That was a similar conclusion as that of investigators with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, the affidavit adds, saying the Republican-run office found the error “not intentional misconduct.”
Another allegation focuses on “pristine” absentee ballots that an unnamed poll manager said she saw when the ballots were counted by hand. She said the ballots were not folded as they would have been if they were put in an envelope, felt different from the other ballots and were all filled in the same, the affidavit says.
A former official with the secretary of state’s office told the FBI that there would be unfolded absentee ballots in every election because they would be generated by vote review panel members when they examined damaged ballots.
Investigators with the secretary of state’s office looked into claims of pristine ballots in 2021, pulling boxes and batches identified by a woman who had worked as an auditor during the hand count, and found no evidence to support her claims.
Agents armed with a warrant spent hours on Jan. 28 at the county elections hub, just south of Atlanta, before driving off with trucks loaded with hundreds of cartons of election materials.
A week after the seizure, Fulton County officials filed a motion seeking the return of the materials that had been taken and the unsealing of the sworn statement presented to the judge who signed off on the search. The warrant sought the seizure of the following documents related to the 2020 election in the county: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.
“Claims that the 2020 election results were fraudulent or otherwise invalid have been exhaustively reviewed and, without exception, refuted,” the county argued in a court filing.
Associated Press writer Nicholas Riccardi in Denver contributed to this report.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, left, and FBI Deputy Director Andrew Bailey, enter a command vehicle as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
An FBI employee stands inside the Fulton County Election HUB as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Equipment is loaded into a truck inside the Fulton County Election HUB as the FBI takes Fulton County 2020 Election ballots, Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga., near Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
The Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, is seen Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026, in Union City, Ga, near Atlanta, as FBI agents search at the main election facility. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
