Fifteen OneWeb Internet satellites, one OneWeb test satellite, and five Iridium 9 L-band satellites will depart on their journey to low Earth orbit.
Earlier this week, SpaceX successfully delivered six direct cell satellites used by T-Mobile and other carriers into Earth's orbit.
Elon Musk's aerospace company said its Starlink direct cell communications satellites have technology that “acts as a cell phone tower in space” and helps eliminate dead zones in cell service.
They launched from California late Tuesday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket along with 15 other Starlink satellites, SpaceX said.
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TMUS | T-MOBILE US INC. | 162.30 | +0.22 | +0.14% |
T-Mobile said it will begin field testing the service “soon.” Initially, customers will only be able to use text messages, the company said.
SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California, April 19, 2022. (Alisha Jusevich/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Where Elon Musk introduced SPACEX STARLINK services for emergencies
Mike Katz, T-Mobile's president of marketing, strategy and products, said the launch was “an exciting milestone for this groundbreaking partnership with SpaceX and global partners around the world as we work to make dead zones a thing of the past.” It's a pivotal moment.”
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The wireless provider first partnered with SpaceX for direct cell communications in August 2023.
T-Mobile logo in Chicago, October 19, 2022. (Jakub Porzycki/Nurfoto/Getty Images)
SpaceX says six other companies have plans to use the technology. The company says these include Rogers in Canada, KDDI in Japan, Optus in Australia, One NZ in New Zealand, Salt in Switzerland, and Entel in Chile and Peru.
Companies using it will have “mutual global access across all partner countries,” SpaceX said on its website.
“this [technology] This will enable mobile phone connectivity anywhere on the planet,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X. “However, this only supports up to 7Mb per beam, and the beams are very large, so while this is a good solution for locations without cellular connectivity, it is not meaningfully competitive with existing terrestrial cellular networks. there is no.”
Elon Musk speaks on stage at the New York Times Dealbook Summit 2023 held at Jazz at Lincoln Center on November 29, 2023 in New York City. (Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times/Getty Images)
SpaceX plans to provide voice, data and other services directly to Cell next year.
SPACEX launches X-37B on Kennedy Space Center's Falcon large rocket
The aerospace company says it plans to eventually use the reusable Starship rocket directly to power cell satellites.
SpaceX has conducted 297 launches of various types. Its latest, the Ovzon 3 mission, launched in Florida on Wednesday.
