Organization and Nature of Operations |
6 Months Ended |
|---|---|
Jun. 30, 2026 | |
| Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |
| Organization and Nature of Operations | 1. Organization and Nature of Operations
AST SpaceMobile, Inc., collectively with its subsidiaries (“SpaceMobile” or the “Company”) is currently designing, developing and manufacturing the constellation of BlueBird (“BB”) satellites and has begun launching its planned space-based Cellular Broadband network distributed through a constellation of low Earth orbit (“LEO”) satellites. Once deployed and operational, the BB satellites are designed to provide connectivity directly to off-the-shelf and unmodified devices at broadband speeds (the “SpaceMobile Service”), and be accessible for other applications for government use. The Company intends to offer the SpaceMobile Service to cellular subscribers and others through wholesale commercial agreements with cellular service providers. The Company also intends to leverage its patented technology, including large phased array and high power capability of its BB satellites, for a variety of applications in the government sector. The Company is headquartered in Texas where it operates satellite assembly, integration and testing (“AIT”) facilities. The Company also has engineering and development centers elsewhere in the United States, India and Scotland, and engineering, development and production centers in Spain and Israel. The Company’s global footprint was approximately 500,000 square feet as of June 30, 2026. The Company’s intellectual property (“IP”) portfolio is diverse, containing numerous and various innovations of the direct-to-device satellite ecosystem from space to Earth. The Company’s IP portfolio consists of 38 patent families worldwide. As of June 30, 2026, the Company has approximately 3,900 patent and patent pending claims worldwide, of which approximately 2,100 have been officially granted or allowed.
The Company launched five first generation commercial BB satellites (“Block 1 BB satellites”) on September 12, 2024. In October 2024, the Company completed the deployment of the phased array antennas and Q/V antennas in orbit and performed a series of monitoring tests and activities to confirm the successful initial operations of the Block 1 BB satellites. In January 2025, the Company successfully made the first SpaceMobile video call from space with Vodafone using standard unmodified 4G/5G smartphones. In February 2025, the Company completed the voice and video call tests on standard unmodified smartphones with AT&T and Verizon in the U.S. and also completed the tests for non-communication applications for the United States government. All five Block 1 BB satellites have participated in the tests at various stages. In April 2025, together with Rakuten Mobile, Inc., the Company successfully conducted a two-way broadband video call in front of a live audience using unmodified smartphones on the SpaceMobile network enabled by a Block 1 BB satellite in orbit today. On July 21, 2025, the Company and AT&T made the first-ever Voice over LTE (“VoLTE”) call and short message service over satellite using AT&T’s spectrum and core network with a standard unmodified cell phone. On October 2, 2025, together with Bell Canada, the Company achieved Canada’s first-ever space-based 4G VoLTE voice call, broadband data connection, and video streaming using standard unmodified smartphones. Using the Block 1 BB satellite, the Company has continued to conduct various successful testing with its partners, including the emergency communications tests, and have achieved 98.9 Mbps peak data speeds directly to a standard unmodified smartphone.
On December 23, 2025, the Company launched the first (“BB6”) of its next generation commercial BB satellites (“Block 2 BB satellites”), which was successfully deployed in February 2026. On April 19, 2026, during the New Glenn 3 mission, BB7 was placed into a lower than planned orbit by the upper stage of the launch vehicle. While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude was too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and, as a result, BB7 was de-orbited. On June 17, 2026, the Company launched BB8, BB9, and BB10, which were successfully deployed in July 2026. On August 5, 2026, the Company successfully launched BB11, BB12, and BB13. The Block 2 BB satellites feature an up to approximately 2,400 square feet phased array, the largest phased array ever deployed in a LEO for commercial use, which is more than three times larger than the phased array of the Block 1 BB satellites and designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the Block 1 BB satellites. Since deployment, BB6 has been used for testing and optimizing the new and unique features associated with the largest phased array. The performance of the Block 2 BB satellites is driven by several breakthroughs in space-based architecture. The large antenna array allows the satellite to transmit and receive signals from standard handheld devices. Further, the large aperture enables precise beamforming, creating narrower, more focused coverage areas. This precision minimizes interference, maximizes network capacity and provides a consistent high-quality user experience for Cellular Broadband services, including voice, data and video. The Company is organized in an “Up-C” structure in which the business is operated by AST & Science, LLC (“AST LLC”) and its subsidiaries and in which the Company's only direct assets consist of equity interests in AST LLC. As the managing member of AST LLC, the Company has full discretion to manage and control the business of AST LLC and to take all action it deems necessary to accomplish the purposes of AST LLC. The Company’s Class A Common Stock is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “ASTS”. |