Overview
- Liftoff is targeted for December 24 at 08:54 IST from the Second Launch Pad at Sriharikota on the LVM3‑M6 flight.
- Under a commercial contract handled by NewSpace India Limited, the mission will place BlueBird Block‑2 into a roughly 520‑km, 53° inclination orbit for US‑based AST SpaceMobile.
- BlueBird Block‑2 features a 223 m² phased‑array antenna for direct 4G/5G links to unmodified phones, with the company indicating higher capacity than earlier BlueBird satellites.
- LVM3 is a three‑stage heavy‑lift rocket with S200 solid boosters, an L110 liquid core, and a C25 cryogenic upper stage, standing 43.5 m tall with a lift‑off mass of about 640 tonnes and a record that includes Chandrayaan and OneWeb missions.
- ISRO will livestream the launch and offer public viewing by registration, and the satellite will undergo in‑orbit tests with regulatory approvals needed before any commercial service begins.