Updated

AST SpaceMobile founder and CEO Abel Avellan said on November 12, 2026 that the company plans a simple rocket called Blacklift, which Ars Technica reported. AST says it is not pursuing rocket development for the love of rockets but because it cannot get enough launches for its Bluebird satellites, which provide direct-to-cell service from about 550 km above Earth. Blacklift is to carry five Bluebirds at a time into low Earth orbit, with 20 metric tons of lift, a reusable first stage, three stages and composite tanks, and launches from a Wallops Flight Facility pad in Virginia twice a month, with AST saying it will be ready in 2028. AST has committed $1.3 billion to buy engines from Firefly Aerospace, including the Miranda first stage engine, which Avellan called ready to fly. Ars Technica reported that Miranda has not completed formal qualification and has not flown on an orbital rocket, and that Firefly's chief executive said qualification testing remains underway. Ars Technica said the 2028 timeline looks implausible, that little is public about the Vira upper stage engine, and that rocket development involves many challenges beyond propulsion. Wisniewski said AST plans to spend several hundred million dollars on Blacklift in 2027, and the company had about $2.8 billion in unrestricted cash at the end of September.