FLORIDA: Blue Origin New Glenn rocket successfully landed its previously flown first-stage booster on Sunday, but the mission failed to place AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 communications satellite into its intended orbit, leaving the spacecraft unable to continue operations. The launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station marked the third New Glenn mission and a significant test of the company’s reusability effort, even as the primary payload objective was not achieved.
AST SpaceMobile said BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower-than-planned orbit by the upper stage of the launch vehicle. The company said the satellite separated from the rocket and powered on after deployment, but the altitude was too low to sustain operations with its onboard thruster technology. AST SpaceMobile said the spacecraft will be deorbited, ending the mission shortly after launch despite a successful separation sequence and initial power-up in orbit.
BlueBird 7 had been intended to support AST SpaceMobile’s direct-to-smartphone broadband network in low Earth orbit. The company said the satellite would have been its eighth spacecraft deployed in low Earth orbit and part of a broader effort to build a cellular broadband system accessible directly from standard mobile phones. Blue Origin had identified the mission before launch as a key New Glenn flight, carrying the satellite to low Earth orbit while also attempting another recovery of the first-stage booster.
Blue Origin lands booster
Blue Origin said the New Glenn mission profile called for liftoff from Launch Complex 36, followed by separation of the first stage and a descent toward Jacklyn, the company’s landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean. On Sunday, that portion of the flight proceeded successfully, with the booster known as Never Tell Me The Odds returning after launch. The recovery gave Blue Origin a clear demonstration of booster reuse on a mission that otherwise fell short of its main delivery target.
The rocket lifted off at about 7:25 a.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral, and the booster touchdown followed roughly 10 minutes later. The mission had drawn attention as another operational step for New Glenn, a heavy-lift rocket built for large commercial payloads and equipped with a seven-meter payload fairing. While the booster return underscored progress in the vehicle’s recovery system, the incorrect orbit for BlueBird 7 left the launch short of full mission success for both Blue Origin and its customer.
Payload loss confirmed
AST SpaceMobile said the cost of BlueBird 7 is expected to be recovered under the company’s insurance policy. The company did not report a successful orbital outcome for the satellite and instead confirmed that the spacecraft could not sustain operations in the orbit reached after launch. Blue Origin, for its part, had said before liftoff that BlueBird 7 would be deployed to low Earth orbit as the mission’s payload, making the off-target insertion the central failure of the flight.
The mission ended with a split result: a successful recovery of a flown New Glenn booster and the loss of BlueBird 7 as an operating satellite. For Blue Origin, the flight added another demonstrated booster landing to the New Glenn program. For AST SpaceMobile, it removed a spacecraft that had been slated to expand its orbital broadband network. The launch therefore delivered a technical milestone in reusability, but not the orbital outcome the mission was designed to achieve. – By Content Syndication Services.