Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a statement expresses pride in his country on Wednesday applauds the nation’s milestone as it places the heaviest ever satellite in orbit. The goal is to beam broadband straight from space to ordinary smartphones, no special gear required.
BlueBird 6, built by Texas company AST SpaceMobile, lifted off atop an LVM3 rocket from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre Tuesday at 10:25 p.m. EST (0325 GMT and 8:55 a.m. India Standard Time on Dec. 24).
The LVM3 deployed BlueBird 6 about 324 miles (521 kilometers) above Earth 15.5 minutes after launch as planned.
AST SpaceMobile is building a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) that beam broadband service directly to standard smartphones on the ground.
P.M. Modi in a statement wrote: “The successful LVM3-M6 launch, placing the heaviest satellite ever launched from Indian soil, the spacecraft of USA, BlueBird Block-2, into its intended orbit, marks a proud milestone in India’s space journey.
“It strengthens India’s heavy-lift launch capability and reinforces our growing role in the global commercial launch market.
“This is also reflective of our efforts towards an Aatmanirbhar Bharat. Congratulations to our hardworking space scientists and engineers.
“India continues to soar higher in the world of space!”