AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (ASTS) – Key Facts
Company Overview AST SpaceMobile (formerly AST & Science) is an American satellite communications company founded by Abel Avellan, who had previously sold his last venture (Emerging Markets Communications) for $550 M in 2016 en.wikipedia.org. The company’s mission is to eliminate terrestrial coverage gaps by deploying the first space-based cellular broadband network accessible by ordinary smartphones en.wikipedia.org. In practice, AST builds very large low-orbit satellites (BlueBirds) that unfold into massive antenna arrays. These satellites operate on standard cellular bands (850 MHz, L‑band, S‑band, etc.) and connect directly to unmodified 4G/5G phones. In contrast to legacy satellite-to-phone services (e.g. Iridium/Lynk text/SOS), AST aims to