AST SpaceMobile Stock Plummets After Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Fails Satellite Deployment

Shares in AST SpaceMobile Inc (Nasdaq: ASTS) plunged this morning after a critical failure during the deployment of its latest satellite aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.

The incident occurred during the third launch of the New Glenn, a partially reusable heavy-lift rocket designed to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. The rocket successfully launched and returned its booster to Earth, but the payload—AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite—was placed in an incorrect orbit, rendering it unusable.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Launch Ends in Satellite Deployment Failure

On Sunday, April 19, Blue Origin launched its flagship New Glenn rocket for the third time. The mission aimed to deploy AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite, part of a planned constellation of approximately 45 satellites intended to provide global broadband internet directly to unmodified smartphones on Earth.

The New Glenn, named after astronaut John Glenn, is Blue Origin’s most advanced rocket, offering a larger payload capacity than SpaceX’s rockets. However, despite its size and reusability, Blue Origin remains a secondary player in the private spaceflight industry compared to SpaceX, which dominates commercial satellite launches.

BlueBird 7 Satellite Misplaced in Unusable Orbit

While the New Glenn’s launch and booster landing were successful, the upper stage of the rocket failed to place the BlueBird 7 satellite into its intended orbit. According to AST SpaceMobile, the satellite was deployed into a lower-than-planned orbit, making it impossible to sustain operations with its onboard thruster technology.

As a result, AST SpaceMobile confirmed in a statement that the BlueBird 7 satellite will be deorbited—a controlled reentry process where the satellite burns up upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere.

Financial Impact and Insurance Coverage

AST SpaceMobile estimates the cost of the BlueBird 7 satellite to be in the tens of millions of dollars. However, the company stated that the financial loss should be recoverable through its insurance policy. The company did not disclose the exact value of the satellite or the insurance coverage.

What Went Wrong? Cause of Failure Still Under Investigation

As of now, the root cause of the satellite deployment failure remains unknown. Blue Origin and AST SpaceMobile have not provided further details on what went wrong during the upper stage separation or orbital insertion process.

This incident marks a setback for both companies. For Blue Origin, it delays the New Glenn’s reputation as a reliable competitor to SpaceX. For AST SpaceMobile, it postpones its goal of launching a global satellite internet service that works with standard smartphones, without requiring specialized hardware.