Satellite BlueWalker 3 deploys the largest antenna in Earth orbit
(Screenshot / Twitter / @AST_SpaceMobile)
The experimental communication satellite BlueWalker 3 has deployed the largest antenna in Earth orbit with a total area of 64 square meters.
The deployment is the first step in the creation of an orbital constellation of communications satellites similar to BlueWalker 3.
BlueWalker 3 was created by the company AST & Science and acts as a prototype for the larger BlueBird satellites of the future SpaceMobile orbital constellation.
The constellation will consist of 168 satellites and is designed to provide broadband direct communication with cellular phones on the 3GPP consortium frequency standards
This will make it possible to establish communication in hard-to-reach areas of the Earth.
The deployment of the constellation in low Earth orbit should begin at the end of next year.
ANTENNA DEPLOYED
A distinctive feature of the BlueWalker 3, with a total weight of 1.5 tons, was a deployable phased antenna array
The large antenna has a diameter of 10 meters and an area of 64 square meters, consisting of many individual modules.
The satellite was launched into a 500-kilometer near-Earth orbit on September 10, 2022 using the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
On November 15 it successfully deployed its antenna and sent back images, becoming the largest commercial communications satellite.
However, this event caused alarm among professional astronomers, who had previously been concerned about the large size of the antenna.
The unusual measurements make the satellite look like a bright point for ground-based telescopes and create tracks in photographs.
After opening, BlueWalker 3 was observed by many astronomers as a 1st-magnitude star, 50 times brighter than before the antenna was opened.
So far, this has not interfered with astronomical observations, but as the number of BlueBird satellites in orbit increases, the problem will become more serious.
Sources:
- AST & Science: https://twitter.com/AST_SpaceMobile/status/1592125761477308416
- CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/14/ast-spacemobile-deploys-bluewalker-3-satellite-antenna.html
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