New Delhi: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday successfully launched BlueBird-6, the heaviest satellite ever carried by India, aboard its ‘Baahubali’ Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3)-M6 rocket.
The next-generation communications satellite, developed by US firm AST SpaceMobile, lifted off at 8:55 a.m. after a 24-hour countdown from the second launch pad at Sriharikota, around 135 km east of Chennai.
After a flight of nearly 15 minutes, the BlueBird Block-2 spacecraft separated from the rocket and was successfully placed into its intended Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of about 520 km.
This marks the second US–ISRO satellite collaboration this year. Earlier in July, ISRO launched the $1.5-billion NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, which is designed to capture high-resolution images of the Earth and can scan through fog, dense clouds and ice.
Announcing the success, ISRO Chairman Dr V. Narayanan, speaking from Sriharikota, said, “I am extremely happy to announce that the LVM3 ‘Bahubali’ rocket M6 launch vehicle has successfully and precisely injected the BlueBird Block-2 communication satellite into the intended orbit.”
He added that this was ISRO’s 104th launch from Sriharikota and that the mission further demonstrated the 100 per cent reliability of the LVM3 launch vehicle.
“As all of you may recall, we had an LVM3 launch just last month on November 2. This is the first time we have achieved a back-to-back LVM3 mission within just 52 days, which is a great achievement,” he said.
Weighing 6,100 kg, BlueBird-6 is the heaviest payload ever placed into LEO by the LVM3 rocket. The earlier record was held by LVM3-M5 Communication Satellite-03, weighing around 4,400 kg, which was launched into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) on November 2.
BlueBird-6 is part of the BlueBird Block-2 constellation, designed to provide space-based cellular broadband connectivity directly to standard mobile smartphones. AST SpaceMobile had earlier launched five satellites — BlueBird-1 to BlueBird-5 — in September 2024 and has partnered with more than 50 mobile operators globally to expand the network.
The mission was the sixth operational flight of the LVM3 launch vehicle and represents a major advancement in telecommunications technology, with the massive satellite aimed at enabling high-speed 4G and 5G connectivity directly to smartphones from space.
Developed by ISRO, LVM3 is a three-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle comprising two solid strap-on motors (S200), a liquid core stage (L110) and a cryogenic upper stage (C25).
The launch was carried out under a commercial agreement between NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) — ISRO’s commercial arm — and AST SpaceMobile (AST and Science, LLC).
In previous missions, the LVM3 has successfully launched Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3, and two OneWeb missions carrying a total of 72 satellites.
With IANS inputs