AST SpaceMobile signs $1.3B+ Firefly engine deal for Blacklift
AST SpaceMobile plans to develop its own rocket, Blacklift, to launch its BlueBird satellites. Firefly Aerospace said AST will pay it more than $1.3 billion in cash and stock over three years for 36 engines, a license to manufacture them and engineering support. Firefly will deliver 27 Miranda and nine Vira engines for the first three rockets. AST says Blacklift is a three-stage vehicle with two reusable lower stages that can carry up to five BlueBirds per mission and will complement its existing launch partners.
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Key takeaways
AST SpaceMobile will pay Firefly Aerospace more than $1.3 billion in cash and stock over three years.
Firefly will deliver 27 Miranda and nine Vira engines for AST's first three rockets and license AST to manufacture them.
AST describes Blacklift as a three-stage rocket with two reusable lower stages that can carry up to five BlueBird satellites.
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AST SpaceMobile plans to develop its own rocket, Blacklift, using engines from Firefly Aerospace. Firefly said on November 6 that AST will pay it more than $1.3 billion to deliver 36 rocket engines, provide a license to the engine's intellectual property and offer engineering support over a three-year period. AST will pay in cash and shares of AST Class A common stock.
SpaceNews reported that AST SpaceMobile's plans to deploy a constellation of direct-to-device satellites have been slowed by launch vehicle delays. AST says Blacklift is a purpose-built rocket to carry its BlueBird satellites to low Earth orbit and will complement, not replace, its existing launch partners.
What Firefly is supplying
Firefly will deliver 27 of its Miranda engines and nine of its vacuum-variant Vira engines for AST SpaceMobile's first three rockets, and provide the license for AST to manufacture the engines. Firefly said the agreement is non-competitive by design and that it retains full ownership of its engine intellectual property.
AST SpaceMobile gets control of its own launch schedule, and Firefly gets added funds to rapidly expand our rocket production — Jason Kim, CEO, Firefly Aerospace
A rocket built around BlueBird
AST describes Blacklift as a three-stage launch vehicle with two reusable lower stages that can carry up to five stacked BlueBird satellites per mission. AST says the rocket completes its end-to-end vertical integration and adds an in-house capability to control its deployment cadence.
Firefly is one of a few companies in the United States with a proven liquid engine of this scale — Abel Avellan, Founder, Chairman and CEO, AST SpaceMobile
What to watch
Neither announcement gave a first-launch date for Blacklift. Firefly said it will discuss the agreement on its third-quarter earnings call on November 10.
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