AST SpaceMobile says it will build a 20-ton rocket called Blacklift

AST SpaceMobile says it will build its own 20-ton rocket, named Blacklift, to deploy BlueBird satellites in low Earth orbit.

The company announced the plan today. The release is dated November 6. The wire copy is timestamped 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time, which is 8:30 a.m. AST. It says Blacklift will be custom-built and designed for reusability. It says the rocket can carry up to five BlueBird satellites per launch, starting in late 2028.

Firefly will supply the engines. AST SpaceMobile says it signed an agreement with Firefly Aerospace for Miranda engines and the vacuum-variant Vira engine. Firefly will deliver engines for the first three Blacklift rockets and provide engineering services for three years. AST SpaceMobile says it will acquire a perpetual license to manufacture those engines, and will produce them at a new facility in the United States.

The stated payments are in three parts. The license is approximately $800 million upfront: $400 million in cash and 10 million to 14 million Class A shares, set by a forward volume-weighted average price. Engine delivery for the first three launches is $250 million. Engineering support over three years is another $250 million. Those stated amounts add to about $1.3 billion. The $800 million figure includes stock, not only cash.

It will keep using outside launch providers. The release says agreements now cover more than 100 BlueBird satellites to be deployed between 2027 and 2028. It does not name those providers.

An unveiling is set for November 12. AST SpaceMobile says it will host the event in New York City and webcast it on its investor site.