ISRO's LVM3-M6 Lifts BlueBird Block-2, Milestone for India's Space Push
ISRO's LVM3-M6 Lifts BlueBird Block-2, Milestone for India's Space Push
ISRO launches the BlueBird Block-2 aboard the heavy-lift LVM3-M6 from Sriharikota, marking the heaviest payload ever placed by ISRO and boosting India's commercial space ambitions.
ISRO is launching its heavy-lift LVM3-M6 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, carrying the BlueBird Block-2 spacecraft for AST SpaceMobile. At 6,100 kg, it's the heaviest payload ISRO has placed into low Earth orbit on the LVM3 rocket, underscoring a major step in India's commercial space push under the NSIL umbrella.
The LVM3, also known as GSLV Mk III, stands 43.5 metres tall and weighs about 640 tonnes. It uses two solid strap-on boosters, a liquid core stage, and a cryogenic upper stage. The mission aims to inject BlueBird Block-2 into a roughly 600-km low Earth orbit, part of AST SpaceMobile's global constellation designed to deliver space-based cellular broadband to standard smartphones, with a massive 223-square-metre phased-array antenna onboard.
This mission marks not just a success for ISRO but the country’s growing commercial space footprint. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the launch as a milestone toward Aatmanirbhar Bharat and a boost for India's role in the global space economy.
If successful, BlueBird Block-2 will be the largest payload ISRO has deployed on LVM3 and will showcase how public agencies and private players can collaborate to expand space-based communications.
