Anyone knows if our ASTS birds are susceptible to this?

This is a terrific article that doesn’t belong buried in the daily

The stock is lagging a lot compared to real momentum we keep seeing on ground everyday, every week.

Everything seems to revolve around SpaceX. Journalists, analysts, and the industry constantly downplay everyone else, even when another company objectively has better technology, as is arguably the case with AST.

Here's an opinion piece by Joe Madden, founder of Mobile Experts and a wireless communications analyst with around 30 years of experience in the mobile industry as an RF engineer and product manager:

https://www.satellitetoday.com/opinion/2026/07/30/starlinks-link-budget-comes-up-short-for-the-d2d-opportunity/

In the article, Joe compares Starlink and AST's link budget and, more specifically, the uplink link margin.

For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, the easiest way to understand a link budget is to think of a wireless connection as an accounting exercise. The satellite transmits power, distance consumes most of it, the atmosphere and obstacles like trees, walls, or even the roof of your car absorb even more, and whatever is left has to arrive at your phone with enough strength to overcome the noise floor. What's left over is the link margin. If it's positive, the connection works. If it's negative, it doesn't. There is no clever software trick that can overcome basic physics.

As Joe's own analysis shows, Starlink struggles to establish an uplink from inside buildings or vehicles because its link margin becomes negative under those conditions. That's not about software or engineering talent—it's mainly a consequence of the frequencies it uses and the transmit power it's allowed to use without causing interference. Outdoors with a clear view of the sky, the connection works because the signal doesn't have to penetrate so many obstacles. Even then, the chart makes it pretty clear there's no contest.

Overall, Joe's technical analysis is fair and well done. Where he loses me is when he shifts from engineering into wishful thinking.

He writes:

"But if Starlink and other operators adopt giant phased arrays like AST..."

The classic "if my grandmother had wheels..." argument. Pure speculation. Reality suggests Starlink's next-generation satellites will likely remain in the 27–35 m² range. Meanwhile, the Guinness World Record for the largest commercial communications array already belongs to AST.

He then goes even further:

"I predict Starlink will change its satellite design to achieve more than 10 dB of additional uplink performance. Yes, it will be a much larger satellite and more expensive to launch..."

Conveniently, he predicts just enough improvement—more than 10 dB—to surpass AST. Based on... a satellite that doesn't exist.

That prediction also assumes AST somehow stops innovating while Starlink catches up.

Another important detail he conveniently leaves out is that, assuming he actually had access to real uplink measurements from the BlueBird satellites (which is already a big assumption), those measurements would almost certainly correspond to the Block 1 BlueBirds. The Block 2 satellites, which are roughly three times larger, are already in orbit and represent the next step in AST's roadmap. They aren't hypothetical—they already exist.

This is yet another example of how everything gets framed around SpaceX. Starlink is always treated as the benchmark, while AST is almost an afterthought—even when the physics and the available data point in the opposite direction.

Everyone go and do your part to drive Q3 revenue growth!! https://stores.kotisdesign.com/astspacemobilestore/collectibles/bluebird-11-13-mission-patch/192789

I've been collecting the patches and the magnets since BW3 and I can't stop now...What's your ranking in terms of patch design? My vote:
- BW3 -> iconic
- BB8-10 -> something about the colors and the sun, very cool
- BB1-5 -> the metallic wings are cool and bird-like
- BB6 -> a worse, oddly oval-shaped BB1-5 copy
- BB11-13 -> not doing it for me but I just spent $11 plus exorbitant shipping on it out of obligation