SpaceX details Starlink-for-phones plan, launching in 2024

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Enlarge / A stack of Starlink V2 Minis. (credit: SpaceX)

Starlink's website update is revealing a bit more about its plans for a satellite-delivered cell phone service. The new page for "Starlink Direct to Cell" promises "ubiquitous coverage" from "cellphone towers in space" that will work over bog-standard LTE. The current timeline claims there will be text service starting in 2024, voice and data in 2025, and "IoT" service in 2025.

Today satellite phone connectivity still requires giant, purpose-built hardware, like the old-school Iridium network phones. If you're only looking for emergency texting, you can also make do with Apple's introduction of the barely there connectivity paradigm, requiring being inside a connectivity window, holding up a phone, and following a signal-targeting app. Starlink wants to bring full-blown space connectivity to normal smartphone hardware.

Starlink satellites with LTE modems will beam Internet directly to your smartphone. (credit: SpaceX)

The plan for Starlink Direct to Cell is different thanks to a lot of foundational improvements over what's currently available. First, those other two networks are in a higher orbit: the iPhone's Globalstar network is at 1,400 km above Earth, and Iridium is at 781 km. Starlink currently operates a lot closer to Earth, in the 550 km range. The other major shift is that SpaceX is developing the world's largest rocket, Starship, and having the world's largest rocket means you get to launch the world's biggest satellites. Bigger satellites can involve bigger, more sensitive antennas than what generally are launched into space, and this part of the operation isn't rocket science: Your tiny smartphone will have a much easier time connecting to the closer, bigger satellites, leading to a level of cellular space service that wasn't possible before.

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