Starlink launches first satellites with Direct to Cell feature

On the second day of 2024, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California (USA) with a live webcast. Of these, six satellites will have the Direct to Cell feature. This first launch of 2024 also included 15 Starlink V2 mini satellites for broadband connection.

The Direct to Cell system will allow mobile network operators around the world to guarantee continuous access initially to text messages and, in the coming years, voice and data coverage, without changing any hardware or firmware.

Starlink’s Direct to Cell satellites have an advanced modem that acts like a mobile phone tower in space, eliminating dead zones with integration similar to a conventional roaming partner.

According to Starlink, among the providers of mobile phone systems that will use Direct to Cell resources are T-Mobile in the United States, Rogers in Canada, KDDI in Japan, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, Salt in Switzerland and Entel in Chile and Peru. Initially, Direct to Cell services will be trialled in the United States and in the future, in addition to voice and data, they will also connect to Internet of Things (IoT) devices, for example, for use in agricultural systems, environmental monitoring and firefighting in remote areas.

During the webcast, Kate Tice, senior manager of quality systems engineering at SpaceX, commented that the new Direct to Cell satellites will be brighter than the previous version of the Starlink V2 mini broadband satellites, but SpaceX will have to measure the brightness of these new satellites and work to produce models that interfere less with astronomers’ activities.

Last November, SpaceX submitted an application to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an experimental licence for 180 days from 10 December 2023 to test second-generation non-geostationary orbit satellites with direct mobile communication payloads, aimed at connecting unmodified mobile phones directly to SpaceX Gen2 satellites. Over this period, SpaceX plans to operate around 840 satellites with this type of payload. The launch, originally scheduled for mid-December, was delayed and will not take place until the second day of 2024.

Last October, SpaceX also submitted an application to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to operate a constellation of around 30,000 satellites in 288 orbital planes and at altitudes between 350 km and 614 km. The network, called ESIAFI II, plans to use W-band frequencies for fixed and mobile satellite services. The request was made through the island of Tonga, in the Pacific region, as a regulatory base.

Regarding the launch of the Direct to Cell satellites, Elon Musk made comments on the X platform (formerly Twitter), stating that the satellites “will offer mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth”, but pointed out that there are technological limitations. “It only supports ~7Mb per beam, and the beams are very large, so while it’s a great solution for locations without a cellular connection, it’s not very competitive compared to current terrestrial cellular networks,” said Musk.

AST SpaceMobile and Lynk Global are two other companies exploring technology similar to Starlink’s Direct to Cell.

SpaceX launched its first 60 Starlink satellites in 2019. By November 2023, the Falcon 9 had already launched a total of 5,420 satellites, according to the Statista website. Musk has said that he aspires to have a constellation of 42,000 Starlink satellites.

SpaceX, founded in 2002, was valued at around US$ 175 billion in December 2023. In the same period, Forbes named Musk as the richest person in the world, with a net worth of approximately US$ 245 billion. Second on the list is French tycoon Bernard Arnault, with “only” US$ 60 billion.