Christmas Eve readies India’s ‘Baahubali’ rocket for its heaviest LEO mission, launching AST SpaceMobile’s giant BlueBird 6 satellite and boosting ISRO’s global commercial credentials.
India’s LVM3 heavy-lift rocket, often dubbed the nation’s ‘Baahubali’ launcher, is set for a high-profile mission on 24 December, carrying AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 6 satellite to low Earth orbit.
The launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota is being viewed as one of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) most important commercial operations of 2025, with the country’s growing significance in the global launch market.
BlueBird 6, weighing around 6.5 tonnes, will be the heaviest satellite ever placed into LEO by LVM3, which currently maintains a perfect launch success record. The spacecraft forms part of AST SpaceMobile’s advanced satellite fleet, designed to create a direct-to-smartphone space-based mobile broadband network.
Once operational, it aims to deliver high-speed connectivity to standard mobile devices without requiring specialised ground equipment, serving both commercial and government users.
A standout feature of BlueBird 6 will be its enormous phased-array antenna, expected to be the largest commercial antenna ever deployed in low Earth orbit. Covering nearly 2400 square feet (222.96 square metres), it is significantly larger than its predecessors and is expected to deliver substantially greater data throughput.
The launch agreement has been facilitated by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL), the commercial arm of the Department of Space. AST SpaceMobile, which has previously relied on SpaceX launches, will become only the second major satellite broadband player to use LVM3 after Eutelsat OneWeb, which flew two major batches of satellites aboard the rocket in 2022 and 2023.
Standing 43.5 metres tall and weighing about 642 tonnes at lift-off, LVM3 is capable of carrying around 10 tonnes to LEO and continues to evolve as India’s flagship launcher for high-value commercial and strategic payloads.
