Geostationary satellites usually manage around 15-18 years for their orbital positions. Satellites from the likes of AST SpaceMobile are significantly lower in orbit, and operate at 460, 520, 690, 730, 735 and 740 kms heights with commensurate reductions in orbital life.

But that could be about to change.

Currently, AST’s BlueBird fleet have “useful” orbital lives of just five years. The first craft to be launched were expected to last just three years or so in useful orbit.

As AST said in a recent set of regulatory filings, the life of a satellite depends on engineering, on-orbit performance, propellant life, utilisation patterns, design enhancement across generations and planned transition to newer satellite technology.

However, continuous technology improvement is crucial to the satellite industry. Observers suggest that bit-by-bit improvements could see these future BlueBirds ending up with lifetimes much closer to that of the geostationary big brothers. 15 years might be ambitious, but anything which gets close to 10 years would mean a huge benefit to AST’s CapEx, and thus helpful to the operator’s bottom line.

AST is due to launch three extra BlueBird satellite (BB8, BB9, BB10) in mid June on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

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Categories: Blogs, Broadband, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: AST SpaceMobile, BlueBird, satellite