Photo: Firefly Aerospace
AST SpaceMobile said Friday it will build its own reusable heavy-lift rocket, named Blacklift, designed to carry up to five of its BlueBird satellites to low Earth orbit per launch starting in late 2028, using engines supplied and licensed by Firefly Aerospace under agreements valued at more than $1.3 billion.
The rocket completes AST SpaceMobile’s long-held strategy of end-to-end vertical integration, pairing the launch vehicle with the company’s in-house production of the largest phased-array satellites operating in low Earth orbit. BlueBird satellites are now in production through BlueBird 51 at the company’s facilities in Midland, Texas. AST SpaceMobile said it will keep using outside launch providers as well, with agreements now covering more than 100 BlueBird satellites to be deployed cumulatively between 2027 and 2028.
Under the license agreement, AST SpaceMobile will pay approximately $800 million in upfront consideration: $400 million in cash plus 10 million to 14 million shares of Class A common stock, with the share count set by a forward VWAP calculation. A separate supply and services agreement covers $250 million for the delivery of engines for the first three rockets and $250 million over three years for engineering support. The $1.3 billion-plus total combines cash, stock and services; it is not an all-cash payment.
Firefly will deliver 27 of its Miranda engines and nine of its vacuum-variant Vira engines for the first three Blacklift rockets, and license the engine intellectual property so AST SpaceMobile can manufacture the engines at a new U.S. facility. Firefly keeps full ownership of the IP and will continue serving the broader government and commercial launch market. The Miranda engine, a 230,000 lbf-thrust engine scaled from Firefly’s flight-proven Reaver and Lightning engines, has completed more than 175 hot-fire tests totaling over 4,200 seconds.
“Firefly is one of a few companies in the United States with a proven liquid engine of this scale, making it a scarcity in the industry,” said Abel Avellan, founder, chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile. Firefly CEO Jason Kim called it “a bold transformational deal” for both companies, adding that AST SpaceMobile gets control of its own launch schedule while Firefly gains funds to expand rocket production, including new test bays at its Rocket Ranch in Briggs, Texas.
Scott Wisniewski, AST SpaceMobile’s president, said the Miranda engine lets the company “leapfrog the traditional five-to-ten-year development cycle” and expand its addressable market beyond direct-to-device service into U.S. government radar, secure communications, IoT, federal emergency and AI edge-compute work. AST SpaceMobile will host a Blacklift unveiling event in New York City on Thursday, November 12, webcast on its investor relations site.
JBizNews Desk | Midland, Texas
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