SpaceX recently launched into Earth’s orbit six “Starlink satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities”. When they come online, these satellites will be able to provide cellular connectivity to every corner of the United States – even to remote locations.
This comes as part of Coverage Above and Beyond, a collaborative initiative that the company entered with T-Mobile back in 2022. It took a little while, but the program is finally bearing fruit. SpaceX explains on its website these satellites essentially function like cell phone towers thanks to an onboard “eNodeB modem”. The ultimate goal here is to effectively eliminate the existence of dead zones allowing for “mobile phone connectivity anywhere on Earth.” Something to keep in mind is the service is primarily meant for far-off locales.
