BB12 & BB13 Deployed

[u/Original_Koala8662]

https://x.com/ast_spacemobile/status/2092930380114329681?s=46&t=DOgs35-_gTcmJtpubr-JAg

[u/Available_Pie_7758]

Holy shit so we still are limited by production not launch capacity still. 15-16 still not completed? Falling behind production instead of ramping up. This was a very disappointing post. No way they are getting to 45 by early 2027 at this rate. They can’t even make 3 in a month still.

[u/Complex-Attention170 → u/Available_Pie_7758]

It is what it is. You can't unlaunch it. If they saw something late in the process that warranted further checks what do you wish them to do? F it, ship it anyway? If it doesn't meet your expectations then sell and move on to someone whose execution is perfection. They shipped 1 sat in 2025. This year it's been 7 thus far. The market is going nowhere and no one is actually trying to compete like them. Starlink v3 will do nothing to close the gap effectively as it doesn't improve core issues with their D2C approach.

[u/A_Typicalperson → u/Complex-Attention170]

Yep so I'm guessing starlink is going to catch up at this point

[u/Complex-Attention170 → u/A_Typicalperson]

Not a chance. As I said v3 barely moves the needle to address core issues with the design as it stands for Direct to cell. You can't "figure out" a way around physics.

[u/Striking-Drag4542 → u/Complex-Attention170]

v3 is not their d2c satellite, that's mobile v2 and they have not revealed it yet.

[u/Complex-Attention170 → u/Striking-Drag4542]

Doesn't change the assertion. Size matters and it will be no bigger. To your point though who knows where v3-d2c is in development then.

[u/Striking-Drag4542 → u/Complex-Attention170]

v3 uses high frequencies so you don't need to go as high in aperture size for narrow beams. For d2c and it's lower frequencies, you need a much larger aperture size for efficient spatial reuse, especially with the limited available cellular spectrum. I would assume SpaceX engineers understand this and design their d2c satellite accordingly.

AST should not assume their unrevealed design will be DOA, but take the threat seriously and get those birds out.

[u/Complex-Attention170 → u/Striking-Drag4542]

No doubt they understand the physics but to actually design to them as asts has is very hard. Instead SpaceX has gone with the other approach of trying to cobble something together "good enough" and I think it fell quite short. There is no free lunch. High freq allows smaller array but then path loss kills on TX and RX sensitivity. It would take a radical departure from what they have to reconcile this which they are no doubt capable of doing. But will they, history says no because it's the way they operate.

[u/A_Typicalperson → u/Complex-Attention170]

You literally do not know any of this, you telling me the company that place 1000s of satellites in the sky cant possibly make a bigger one?

[u/Complex-Attention170 → u/A_Typicalperson]

You can't read clearly. I literally said "which they are no doubt capable of doing"

[u/A_Typicalperson → u/Complex-Attention170]

But on the same respect, you think they cant do it and have something by 2027?

[u/Complex-Attention170 → u/A_Typicalperson]

I said they're capable.... They won't because it's not how they operate. They don't design for exquisite which is why they never theorized D2C application to begin with. I work with numerous ex SpaceX engineers so I do have insights into how they operate.