Investment business Seraphim Space says that AST SpaceMobile has surged to a $10 billion (€9.05bn) market cap, making it the second highest–valued space company in the world, trailing only SpaceX.

AST, a direct competitor to Starlink, launched its prototype BlueWalker 3 ‘cell tower’ satellite in 2022 and successfully tested its 5G direct–to–cell capability in 2023. In July, AST announced the completion of its first five commercial satellites, which are set to launch in September 2024. This marks the initial phase of its multi–billion dollar, 168–satellite constellation. With strategic partnerships with Verizon and AT&T, AST is positioned for significant revenue growth with strong financial backing.

Separately, Seraphim says that a recent SpaceX flight launched seven of their client’s satellites. On August 16th, SpaceX launched a mission carrying satellites for seven Seraphim portfolio companies, including Spire Global (seven satellites), D–Orbit (one), Tomorrow.io (two), ICEYE (four) and HawkEye 360 (three). The launch also featured satellites from Array Labs (two) and Ubotica (one). Additionally, two alumni from the Seraphim Space Accelerator, Cosmic Shielding Company and Satelliot participated in the launch. In total, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried and deployed more than 100 satellites in the Transporter–11 mission.

Transporter–11 carried 116 payloads for a wide range of government and commercial customers, primarily manifested by aggregators such as Exolaunch, ISISpace, Maverick Space Systems and SEOPS. Those payloads were deployed starting about 54 minutes after lift off, continuing for more than 90 minutes.

Planet had the largest number of satellites on the mission (36) with its Dove imaging cubesats on the launch along with Tanager–1, its first hyperspectral imaging satellite.

Sateliot, a Spanish startup planning to offer IoT services, flew its first four commercial satellites on Transporter–11. The company had previously launched two prototypes. Tomorrow.io included its first two satellites with microwave sounders for weather forecasting services. Kuva Space, a Finnish startup, flew its first hyperspectral imaging satellite.

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Rivada: No hard news on funding
2. United Airlines will dump geo-satellites
3. AST SpaceMobile launched and ready to connect
4. AT&T boss: “Satellite constellations are great”
5. Starlink Texas factory capable of 4.68m terminals annually
6. Bank: Starlink facing multiple challenges
7. India stalls again on satellite licensing
8. Bank raises AST SpaceMobile target
9. China uses Galactic Energy ship to launch satellites

Categories: Blogs, Business, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: AST SpaceMobile, satellite, Seraphim Space