SpaceX is working with chip makers for Starlink cell service

SpaceX is working with microchip manufacturers to embed devices in phones to support its nascent Starlink satellite-to-cell service, a key step following the Elon Musk-led company’s $17 billion deal to acquire wireless spectrum from EchoStar Corp.

“We’re working with chip manufacturers to get the proper chips in phones,” SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell told a space conference in Paris on Tuesday.

Musk’s space transportation company has signed up millions of customers in more than 100 countries for its Starlink internet service. Most customers tap into the system using a small dish, but SpaceX is also pursuing an emerging market known as direct-to-device, which would provide mobile service from space to regular cellphones.

Satellite operators like SpaceX pursuing such technology usually need to team up with at least one company that holds ground-based mobile licenses. SpaceX currently has a partnership with T-Mobile US Inc., but the EchoStar spectrum deal would allow SpaceX to provide its own offerings more independently.

“We will be now initiating discussions with telcos in a different way now,” Shotwell said. “Now it’s our spectrum, but we want to work with them, almost providing capacity and wholesaling capacity to their customers.”

SpaceX aims to launch new satellites supporting its direct-to-device business in the next two years, and conduct mobile phone tests late next year, Shotwell said.

Shotwell also addressed the recent launch of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, which flew on its 10th test mission in August. Shotwell said the flight met all of its objectives, a key milestone after a rough year for the Starship program.

“My Starship team needed that win,” Shotwell said. “Development programs always are kind of a 24/7 operation, and I was really pleased for them.”

Shotwell reiterated that SpaceX plans to fly one final version of the current Starship prototype, known as V2, this year. Then the company will focus on the next prototype, known as V3, which is supposed to be more capable than its predecessor.

“The V3 – which we want to fly hopefully late this year, but maybe early next year – is really the vehicle that could take humans to the moon and Mars,” Shotwell said.