Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company conducted a successful launch of its New Glenn 3 rocket on Sunday morning, successfully completing its booster landing but misplacing its payload.
The Bluebird7 satellite, built by AST Spacemobile, would enter Earth’s atmosphere for destruction after reaching an operational orbit that was too low for its satellite functions.
What happened during the Blue Origin New Glenn 3 launch?
New Glenn rocket number three left the launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday, carrying the Bluebird 7 satellite developed by AST Spacemobile into low Earth orbit. Blue Origin provided regular updates regarding the mission on
However, things went awry just two hours into the flight. At 9:40 a.m. local time, Blue Origin confirmed on X that the payload was inserted into an off-nominal orbit, meaning it didn’t go where it was supposed to.
The company AST Spacemobile confirmed this in a statement released over the weekend. Bluebird7 managed to separate from the rocket and activate itself, but due to its very low altitude, the satellite’s thruster could not manage to correct the problem. The company explained in a very simple way that the satellite will have to be de-orbited as it will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
The loss will be compensated through insurance, as AST Spacemobile disclosed the fact that their insurance covers the lost satellite.
The loss is a blow to a company racing against aggressive deployment timelines. AST Spacemobile currently operates seven satellites in low Earth orbit and has publicly targeted a constellation of about 45 satellites by the end of 2026.
That network is central to its ambition to build a space-based cellular broadband service, designed to bring connectivity directly to standard mobile devices without special hardware.
A lost satellite will not derail the program, but it does put pressure on the schedule leaving little margin for error.
This was the third New Glenn launch in the rocket’s history, following two missions in 2024. Unlike New Shepard, Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket, which has flown tourists including Katy Perry and Bezos’ partner Lauren Sanchez to the edge of space, New Glenn is the company’s heavy-lift orbital vehicle and the one on which its commercial launch ambitions depend.
