AST SpaceMobile is building a space-based cellular network that connects ordinary phones directly to satellites. Its constellation — the BlueBird satellites, preceded by the BlueWalker 3 test satellite — uses very large phased-array antennas to act as cell towers in orbit, in partnership with mobile carriers such as AT&T and Verizon.
What is live today
AST SpaceMobile reached orbit with its BlueWalker 3 demonstrator and the first operational BlueBird satellites, and is launching more to build toward continuous coverage. As with every direct-to-cell system, coverage at this stage is best treated as expanding and intermittent: a satellite has to be above you for a connection, and the constellation is still filling in.
What “coverage” really means for AST
Because the satellites orbit a few hundred kilometres up and move fast, the useful question is not only whether an area is covered but when a satellite is overhead. Each pass is a window of a few minutes. Until the constellation is large, planning around those windows is what makes the service usable.
How to track AST SpaceMobile passes
GroundOrbit computes passes from public orbital data, so you can see AST’s satellites for any location on Earth:
- Open the map to watch live ground tracks move across your region — select the AST SpaceMobile constellation to focus on its satellites.
- Use the satellite API to get the next pass, peak elevation, and availability windows for any coordinate.
The bottom line
AST SpaceMobile is one of the front-runners in direct-to-cell, and its coverage grows with every launch. For now, knowing when a BlueBird satellite is above you is the difference between a connection and a missed window — and that is exactly what GroundOrbit tracks.