{"id":366775,"date":"2025-12-24T03:36:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T03:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/366775\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T03:36:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T03:36:07","slug":"why-todays-bluebird-2-launch-is-a-milestone-for-isros-commercial-space-push-watch-the-liftoff-live-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/366775\/","title":{"rendered":"Why today’s Bluebird 2 launch is a milestone for ISRO’s commercial space push | Watch the liftoff LIVE here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

India has launched its heavy-lift LVM3-M6 rocket, with the Indian Space Research Organisation preparing to loft a next-generation US communication satellite into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in a major commercial mission.<\/p>\n

\"ISRO's ISRO’s LVM3M6 is set to launch the BlueBird Block-2 spacecraft from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, tomorrow. (X\/@Isro) <\/p>\n

The rocket took off at 8.55 am on Wednesday from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. The mission is carrying the BlueBird Block-2 spacecraft<\/a> of US-based AST SpaceMobile, marking the sixth operational flight of the LVM3 launch vehicle.<\/p>\n

The 6,100-kg BlueBird Block-2 is the heaviest payload ever launched by LVM3 into LEO, a significant milestone for the rocket.<\/p>\n

Watch the launch LIVE <\/p>\n

The earlier record was held by the CMS-03 communication satellite, weighing about 4,400 kg, which was placed into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit on November 2.<\/p>\n

The launch is being undertaken under a commercial agreement between NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), ISRO\u2019s commercial arm, and AST SpaceMobile.<\/p>\n

About 15 minutes after liftoff, the satellite<\/a> is expected to separate from the rocket and be injected into its designated low Earth orbit at an altitude of roughly 600 km.<\/p>\n

ISRO chairman V Narayanan, who offered prayers at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala earlier this week, is present at the spaceport to oversee the mission.<\/p>\n

All about the launch vehicle<\/p>\n

Standing 43.5 metres tall, the LVM3, also known as GSLV Mk III, is a three-stage launch vehicle comprising two S200 solid strap-on boosters, a liquid core stage (L110), and a cryogenic upper stage (C25). With a lift-off mass of 640 tonnes, it is ISRO\u2019s most powerful operational rocket.<\/p>\n

BlueBird Block-2 is part of AST SpaceMobile\u2019s global LEO constellation aimed at providing space-based cellular broadband directly to standard smartphones, without specialised hardware or modifications. The satellite features a massive 223-square-metre phased-array antenna, making it the largest commercial communications satellite deployed in LEO to date.<\/p>\n

According to AST SpaceMobile, the constellation will enable 4G and 5G voice and video calls, text messaging, data streaming, and broadband internet for users anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

Another milestone for LVM3<\/p>\n

The company has already launched five BlueBird<\/a> satellites in September 2024 and has partnerships with more than 50 mobile operators globally.<\/p>\n

LVM3 has previously powered flagship missions such as Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3, and two OneWeb launches carrying 72 satellites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"India has launched its heavy-lift LVM3-M6 rocket, with the Indian Space Research Organisation preparing to loft a next-generation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[24690,180206,180205,71446,37468,180204,79,193],"class_list":{"0":"post-366775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-ast-spacemobile","9":"tag-bluebird","10":"tag-bluebird-block-2-spacecraft","11":"tag-indian-space-research-organisation","12":"tag-low-earth-orbit","13":"tag-lvm3-m6-rocket","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-space"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}