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Abel Avellan

Abel Avellan

Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive of AST SpaceMobile

Appears in 2 stories

Notable Quotes

Avellan has described the goal as ending mobile dead zones by treating space as one giant cell tower.

We are the only company capable of delivering 4G and 5G and in the future, 6G broadband speed sufficient for voice calls, voice over LTE, live video calls, streaming, and full Internet access directly to unmodified devices.

We remain on track to achieve our target of deploying 45 to 60 satellites into low Earth orbit by the end of this year — March 2026 earnings call

Stories

AST SpaceMobile races to build a phone network in space

New Capabilities

Leading the constellation buildout

Your phone needs a cell tower to work. AST SpaceMobile is trying to replace that tower with a satellite the size of a tennis court. On June 17, 2026, a SpaceX Falcon 9 carried three of them to orbit from Cape Canaveral.

Updated Jun 17

Blue Origin proves New Glenn booster reuse, enters the reusable heavy-lift race

New Capabilities

Scaling BlueBird constellation toward global coverage

Blue Origin flew a previously used New Glenn booster for the first time on April 19, 2026, becoming the second company ever to reuse an orbital-class rocket stage. The booster, 'Never Tell Me the Odds,' first flew in November 2025 and landed successfully again on the drone ship Jacklyn roughly ten minutes after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. One engine on the expendable upper stage didn't produce enough thrust during its second burn, leaving AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 stranded in an orbit too low for the satellite's electric thrusters to correct.

Updated May 31