AST SpaceMobile's stock falls after failure of Jeff Bezos-backed satellite launch

By William Gavin

Blue Origin successfully launched AST SpaceMobile's satellite to orbit, but it was at the wrong altitude

AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite was sent to low-Earth orbit by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on April 20. AST SpaceMobile has targeted an orbital launch "every one to two months" on average in 2026.

AST SpaceMobile shares fell Monday after a satellite launched by Blue Origin was seen as a failure, which could be a setback for the company's plans to offer satellite-internet services.

On Sunday, a New Glenn rocket carrying AST SpaceMobile's (ASTS) BlueBird 7 satellite was launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral. Although the satellite made it into orbit, it wasn't delivered to the right altitude by the Blue Origin vehicle's upper stage, meaning that it didn't complete its mission.

"While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its onboard thruster technology and will [be] de-orbited," AST SpaceMobile said in a statement.

AST SpaceMobile shares closed 5.3% lower Monday, after paring steeper declines in morning trading. Blue Origin is a private company started by Amazon.com (AMZN) founder and chair Jeff Bezos.

Thanks to the company's insurance, the cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered, AST SpaceMobile said. However, losing the satellite could slow the company down as it seeks to compete with SpaceX and Amazon.

BlueBird 7 was an important part of AST SpaceMobile's plans to launch some 45 satellites to low-Earth orbit by the end of the year. It plans to have another three satellites ready to be shipped out in some 30 days and to carry out an orbital launch "every one or two months" on average in 2026.

Future missions with Blue Origin could carry as many as eight satellites to orbit at a time.

"We expect to fully utilize New Glenn fairing capacity as we progress through our orbital launch plans," AST SpaceMobile CEO Abel Avellan said during an earnings call last month.

Between 45 and 60 satellites will be needed to enable continuous satellite-internet coverage across select markets, including the U.S. and Japan, according to the company. Ninety will be needed for worldwide coverage. AST SpaceMobile aims to begin commercial services in the second half of the year.

Amazon is also behind on its own satellite plans. It faces a July deadline to launch half of its first-generation satellite system's 3,232 spacecraft to low-Earth orbit but only has an estimated 239 currently in orbit. Last week, it announced a plan to buy an Apple (AAPL)-backed company to help it compete.

See: How the Globalstar purchase could turn Amazon's Leo into a satellite powerhouse

That deal led analysts to speculate that AST SpaceMobile could seek its own acquisition of a company that owns valuable spectrum licenses, such as ViaSat (VSAT). A Deutsche Bank analyst also suggested that AST SpaceMobile could be an acquisition target for a larger company seeking to offer direct-to-device services.

Both Amazon and AST SpaceMobile are lagging behind SpaceX, which has launched more than 10,000 satellites to low-Earth orbit to support its Starlink service. The company is eying a potentially blockbuster initial public offering that could draw more attention to the space sector.

While for AST SpaceMobile, Sunday's launch was a failure, for the Bezos-owned Blue Origin, things look a tad brighter. Although it was unable to deliver its customer's payload to its proper orbit, Blue Origin was able to reuse the "Never Tell Me The Odds" booster and land it on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean.

It was Blue Origin's third launch of the New Glenn rocket and its first attempt to reuse its booster. The company had previously landed and reused the booster for the smaller New Shepard vehicle primarily used for short space tourism trips. But New Glenn is a much larger vehicle that flies higher and moves faster than New Shepard.

Read: Space investing is heating up as SpaceX rockets toward a record-breaking IPO

Blue Origin has been contracted by multiple companies, including AST SpaceMobile, to launch their payloads into orbit. Amazon expects to pay Blue Origin around $2.7 billion for satellite launches and related services through 2028.

-William Gavin

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04-20-26 1747ET