The Indian Space Research Organisation launched the LVM3-M6 rocket with the BlueBird Block-2 mission spacecraft on Wednesday (December 24, 2025) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota.

The mission is being undertaken as part of the commercial agreement signed between NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) and US-based AST SpaceMobile (AST and Science, LLC). NewSpace India Ltd is the commercial arm of ISRO.

The historic mission will deploy the next-generation communication satellite designed to provide high-speed cellular broadband directly to smartphones worldwide.

Wednesday’s launch is the ninth for the LVM3 rocket, and the third commercial mission.

Heaviest payload in LEO

Weighing 6,100 kg, the communication satellite would be the heaviest payload to be placed into the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in LVM3 launch history, the ISRO said.

The previous heaviest was the LVM3-M5 Communication Satellite 03, weighing about 4,400 kg that was successfully launched by ISRO on November 2.

According to the Indian space agency, the 43.5 metre tall LVM3, also known as Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII, is a three stage rocket with a cryogenic engine designed and developed by ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre.

In previous missions, the LVM3 rocket has successfully launched Chandrayaan-2, Chandrayaan-3 and two OneWeb missions carrying 72 satellites.

(With inputs from PTI)