Forget 5G wireless, SpaceX and T-Mobile want to offer Zero-G coverage

SpaceX and T-Mobile announced an ambitious plan on Thursday to provide ubiquitous access to cell phones from space.

T-Mobile US and its mid-band spectrum, mobile network, and large customer base would be included in the project.

In order to deliver space-to-ground internet to mobile phones, the second generation of Starlink satellites will need to be developed. The current ones have a mass of 295 kilograms. Musk said the project could enter a service before the end of the year.

Musk appeared at a live event at the Starbase facility in South Texas, where the company is building and testing its next generation Starship rocket. There was a smoke machine, fireworks, and a lot of people mingling around the stage in black t-shirts. There are only two logos on these shirts, one for T-Mobile and the other for SpaceX.

Since the advent of mobile telephones, the companies have dreamed of delivering a service that wouldn't have dead zones. If you have a clear view of the sky, you are connected.

How this would work

A user of the Starlink service needs to have a dish-shaped terminal that can pull down internet from one of the Starlink satellites. The signal is too weak for the satellites to connect to smaller phones.

The second version of the Starlink satellites can be used to solve this problem. The body of the satellites is about 7 meters long, and the antenna is about 5 meters on a side. The antenna will send and receive data as the satellite passes overhead.

The service wouldn't offer broadband internet service initially. Up to 4 megabits of data should be enough for thousands of voice calls or millions of text messages. It would be possible to connect to the internet off the grid or during an emergency situation.

A user's cell phone would look for service first from a cell phone tower, but if it didn't detect this, it wouldn't give them a bar of service. The software on the satellite would communicate to the phone as if it were a cell tower on the ground.

T-Mobile plans to offer this service on most of its plans for free, initially covering the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, as well as much of the world's oceans, according to Sievert. He invited foreign mobile network operators to work with T-Mobile and SpaceX.

The challenges

There are many challenges that need to be overcome to make this all work. Large satellites that can talk to mobile phones are one of the principals.

The most advanced antennas in the world are what Musk thinks. They have to pick up the signal from your phone. Imagine that signal has to travel 500 miles and then be caught by a satellite at 17,000 mph The satellite has to take into account the effect of moving so fast.

They need to put the satellites into space. The V2 satellites are too large to fit in the Falcon 9 rocket's space suit. The Starlink V2 satellites will need to wait for the bigger rocket to come online. Launchings at the Starbase facility in South Texas are likely to be years away.

The "V2 mini" Starlink satellite that could fit within the Falcon 9 rocket's "payload fairing" could be developed if Starship development doesn't come as quickly as expected. Musk and Sievert talked about the need for a fully operational Starship launch system.

Musk said that the company has a lot of technical work to do, but that the teams have made great progress.

It is a difficult technical challenge. We are confident that this will work in the field. Extra hardware and software are included on the satellites. It is a difficult problem.

The competition

The "BlueWalker3" demonstration satellite is due to be launched later this year by a company called AST Space Mobile. Direct-to-cellphone service is being attempted by two companies.

The ability to use ordinary, unmodified mobile telephones to connect to satellite internet services has been demonstrated by the company. The company currently has one operational satellite in space, but is planning to launch more in order to provide more coverage.

"Lynk has done it in space already, and Elon said it's hard, but it's only been done in the lab," Miller said. The only company in the world that has done that is us.

There are 14 contracts with mobile network operators. The company expects to get a license from the US Federal Communications Commission by the end of the year to begin selling commercial service in those countries.

A whole new level of competition has been created by the entrance of two of the world's leaders in spaceflight and communication. The company has a history of delivering on its new rockets and they could pull it off.

Musk and Sievert seemed to be having a good time on stage. It is possible that Starlink could provide backhaul capacity to remote cell towers. Satellites would connect those towers to the internet without T-Mobile having to wire them up.

T-Mobile could be the first cell service provider on Mars.