SpaceX Plans Direct-to-Cell Starlink Tests Next Year

SpaceX is aiming to test direct-to-cell Starlink service late next year using wireless spectrum it plans to acquire from EchoStar, the company’s president Gwynne Shotwell said on Tuesday. “We hope to be launching our next-generation direct-to-device satellites in two years, and hopefully maybe have some tests on phones late next year,” Shotwell said at a space conference in Paris, according to SpaceNews. #SpaceX 🚀 said last week that it would buy wireless spectrum from EchoStar for $17 billion in cash and stock, which SpaceX said would let it offer satellite-to-cell service anywhere in the world. SpaceX now has to launch a new generation of satellites with hardware that’s compatible with the spectrum it has acquired, which it plans to start doing in the next two years, Shotwell said. SpaceX is also now working with chip manufacturers so that future generations of mobile phones will have chips that will work with Starlink service, according to Shotwell. https://spacenews.com/spa..