Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin blasts satellite into wrong place
Blue Origin Launch Places Satellite in Wrong Orbit
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space tech company, faced criticism after placing a customer’s satellite in the wrong orbit on Sunday. The mishap led to a significant drop in the stock price of Nasdaq-listed AST SpaceMobile on Monday.
AST SpaceMobile’s shares fell nearly 12% in premarket trading and were down approximately 8% from the previous day’s closing price. The incident occurred when Blue Origin launched the “BlueBird 7” satellite from its Cape Canaveral, Florida site using the New Glenn rocket. However, the satellite was not launched high enough, according to AST SpaceMobile.
AST SpaceMobile stated that “BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower than planned orbit by the upper stage of the launch vehicle. While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will be de-orbited.”
De-orbiting involves taking a satellite out of orbit and allowing it to burn up in the atmosphere or fall to the ground, according to NASA.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp acknowledged the error and stated that one of the rocket’s engines failed to produce sufficient thrust to reach the target orbit. The company is conducting an anomaly investigation with oversight from the Federal Aviation Administration to implement necessary improvements.
AST SpaceMobile did not provide any comments on the incident, but the satellite was intended to offer space-based cellular broadband for smartphones, catering to both commercial and government applications.
The failure is seen as a setback for Bezos’ aspirations to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the rocket business. Blue Origin has been striving to increase flights with its New Glenn rocket and address a backlog of flights.
AST SpaceMobile had invited shareholders to witness the launch, which ended in disappointment as the satellite was lost due to the improper orbit placement. The company intended to launch 45 satellites into orbit this year, but this goal may be challenging to achieve following the incident.
Despite the setback, AST gained valuable experience from working with Blue Origin. The company plans to continue launching satellites into low-earth orbit, aiming for a frequency of one launch per month or two this year.
Clear Street analyst Greg Pendy maintained a buy rating on AST’s stock but revised the year-end price target to $115 from $137. The cost of the satellite is expected to be covered by the company’s insurance policy.
