The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) will launch the BlueBird Block-2 communications satellite for US company AST SpaceMobile today using its heavy-lift Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3). Weighing 6,100 kg, it will be the heaviest payload ever placed in low Earth orbit by the LVM3. The mission marks a milestone in Isro's commercial space efforts.
The Isro LVM3-M6 mission is set to lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota at 8:24 am on December 24, 2025. This will be the sixth operational flight of the reliable LVM3 heavy-lift vehicle, which has previously succeeded with the Chandrayaan-3 mission and OneWeb constellations. The BlueBird Block-2 satellite, weighing 6,100 kg, will be injected into a 520 km low Earth orbit just over 15 minutes after takeoff. Designed by US firm AST SpaceMobile, the satellite is part of an LEO constellation aimed at providing direct-to-mobile high-speed cellular broadband, enabling 4G and 5G voice, video calls, texts, streaming, and data to smartphones worldwide.
This marks the third commercial mission for the LVM3, following the launches of 36 OneWeb satellites in 2022 and 2023. India secured these after Russia declined amid the Ukraine war and Europe's Ariane-5 was decommissioned. Compared to competitors like SpaceX's Falcon-9 and Europe's Ariane 6, the LVM3 offers heavy launches at lower costs, showcasing Isro's capabilities.
The launch comes weeks after the November 2 deployment of the CMS-03 communications satellite, the shortest gap between LVM3 missions. At 6,100 kg, it surpasses the previous heaviest payload of over 5,700 kg from OneWeb sets. Isro is optimizing the vehicle for human-rated Gaganyaan missions and the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, including upgrading the cryogenic upper stage from C25 to C32 for higher thrust, introducing semi-cryogenic engines to boost LEO capacity to 10,000 kg, and developing bootstrap reignition for multi-orbit efficiency.
