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New Delhi:
India is all set to launch a massive American communications satellite that would allow making phone calls using direct connectivity from space. This is a highly innovative and a more modern approach to satellite telephony than the existing services.
This is also the first time an American company is launching a massive communications satellite from India in a dedicated launch on an Indian rocket. Till date, India has only launched small satellites made by American entities.
Science Minister Dr Jitendra Singh has disclosed that in February or March, the country would launch a US satellite for mobile communication, and called it “an interesting mission”.
While neither the minister nor Indian space agency ISRO confirmed who the American satellite operator is, experts confirm that it is AST SpaceMobile, a Texas-based company is hoping to launch its big communication satellite from Sriharikota.
The US company has asserted that one can use any smartphone to make voice calls using their services. Most other current satellite-based Internet and voice providers ask subscribers to buy special handsets or have special terminals like Starlink does.
American media had reported that Abel Avellan, the CEO of AST SpaceMobile, had confirmed in an investor call last year by announcing that they will use the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) to launch a single Block 2 of the Bluebird satellite.
NDTV has reached out to AST SpaceMobile for a statement. No response came in till the time the story was filed.
Each Bluebird satellite will have an antenna of the size of 64 square meters or about half the size of a football field. The satellite will weigh nearly 6000 kilograms and India’s rocket will put it in a low Earth orbit.
In an earlier statement, Abel Avellan said they “invented a technology that connects satellites directly to ordinary cell phones and provides broadband internet through the largest ever commercial phase array in low Earth orbit”.
AST SpaceMobile’s mission, he added, is to close the global connectivity gap and digitally transform nations by bringing “affordable 5G broadband service from space to billions of people worldwide, direct to everyday smartphones”.
