SpaceX completes Starlink’s first direct-to-cell constellation

SpaceX completes Starlink’s first direct-to-cell constellation

SpaceX completed its first Starlink direct-to-cell satellite constellation this week. On Wednesday, the company launched 20 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, 13 of which can communicate directly with cell phones without additional equipment.

The completed constellation follows the FCC’s approval of a deal between SpaceX and T-Mobile last week. The companies announced the partnership in 2022, touting plans for a future in which phones can be connected to the world even in the middle of the ocean. According to SpaceX, the satellite constellation “behaves like a cell tower in space, enabling network integration similar to a standard roaming partner.”

On Thursday, SpaceX announced that the company sent and received its first text messages over T-Mobile’s network earlier this year.

The low-Earth constellation has 6,799 operational satellites Space.com reports that about 330 can communicate directly with cell phones. On Thursday, Elon Musk said unmodified cell phones would enjoy bandwidth of about 10 Mbps per beam. He said future constellations will enable much greater throughput.

Presumably the companies will elaborate on this for consumers once Starlink Direct to Cell is available. This is currently planned for next year. However, the constellation is not just limited to T-Mobile. Android Central SpaceX senior director Ben Longmier reportedly said shortly after the deployment that the satellites would be “open to any telecommunications company in the world.”

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