10 Firms Stealing the Show on Wall Street

8. AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile rebounded by 6.58 percent on Thursday to close at $65.93 apiece as investors repositioned their portfolios ahead of the upcoming launch of its next-generation satellite.

On Sunday, December 21, AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) is set to launch its BlueBird 6 satellite, its next-generation model, which aims to enable ubiquitous cellular broadband coverage from space directly to mobile phones.

The BlueBird 6 was originally scheduled on December 15 but was later pushed back due to a technical glitch.

Compared with the earlier generations, AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS) said that the BlueBird 6 would feature the largest commercial phased array in low Earth orbit at nearly 2,400 square feet, representing a 3.5 times increase in size over the first to fifth generations, and supports 10 times the data capacity.

The company is also planning to ramp up the production of the next-generation satellite, with the expansion of its manufacturing sites in Florida and Texas.

Sunday’s launch would mark the first of six planned launches until March 2026.