China launched @Starlink -shaped satellites this week with zero airspace notice. They have 140 orbital launches planned this year, 20+ rocket companies, and all 3 Chinese telcos are now licensed for direct-to-phone satellite service.
We all think China is building their own @Starlink .
They're not. It's much bigger than that.
China's Guowang constellation carries broadband, laser comms, synthetic aperture radar, AND optical remote sensing - all on the same satellites. Taiwanese military assessed it's being tested for precision missile strike guidance. 12,992 satellites planned. 310 this year alone.
This is why America and Europe need to accelerate their own sovereign D2D layer - one that carriers control, allied governments trust, and works on every phone already in people's pockets.
$ASTS is building exactly that. Carrier-partnered in the US. Operating under EU jurisdiction in Europe through Vodafone. Already contracted by the Space Development Agency. FCC authorized for 248 satellites. 98.9 Mbps to unmodified phones.
The constellation race isn't commercial competition. It's infrastructure sovereignty. The race is already here.
$ASTS 🛰️
cc: @BrendanCarrFCC
Farrar's tweets are quoted in this morning's article re: $ASTS, $LUNR, $RDW, etc. This 'analyst' has been ridiculously wrong for so long...
https://t.co/UHrhK8TSN7
$ASTS: Quote from AST SpaceMobile in recent article:
“None of the missions planned for the next few months are scheduled with Blue Origin,” the statement said.
“Our satellites are designed to be launcher-agnostic, and we have agreements in place with multiple launch providers, giving us flexibility across our launch program,” AST SpaceMobile added.
@kingtutcap The only bad thing about being in a hot ETF like $NASA is that when a large holding such as $ASTS goes down (ie: yesterday), all the stocks in the ETF are sold and everyone suffers. The same, of course, is true for the upside benefits.