SpaceX has launched its first batch of satellites designed to beam mobile phone service to Earth.
The company is promising “ubiquitous coverage” through clusters of satellites scattered in low-Earth orbit, which will act as “cell phone towers in space”. It says the Starlink network will be able to provide connectivity for most 4G LTE devices when in range.
Six of the satellites took off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket earlier this week from the Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.
SpaceX plans to switch on texting services in 2024, followed by voice, data and smart home services in 2025. Like its existing Starlink broadband network, you’ll need a clear view of the sky in order to get a signal and data.
The service will be offered to customers of select mobile network providers in the USA, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Peru.
Ultimately, SpaceX’s goal is to offer mobile and internet services anywhere in the world, including extremely remote locations and vast stretches of the ocean that can’t get a signal.
Currently, satellite phone connectivity requires an expensive and bulky satellite phone, many of which look more like walkie-talkies. Meanwhile, other companies such as Apple limit satellite services to emergency calls when you don’t have a signal.
SpaceX received clearance in December from the US communications regulator to perform a limited test of its cellular Starlink system.
The trial will eventually involve 840 satellites transmitting connectivity to 2,000 unmodified devices on the ground. Areas covered in the test will include Dallas, Texas, Mountain View, California, and Redmond, Washington, among others.
SpaceX has said the mobile satellites will be brighter than their broadband counterparts. The company aims to work with astronomers to monitor their effect on their observations before dimming them.
SpaceX chief Elon Musk previously said the body of the satellites would be about 7 meters long, and the antenna would fold out to be about 5 meters on a side, or "roughly 25 square meters". As the satellite passes over the Earth, its antenna will produce a focused beam that delivers data to a specific spot.
Just over an hour after the launch, SpaceX announced that all 21 satellites aboard the Falcon 9 rocket had been deployed.
