SpaceX announced it had sent its first social media post from one of its Starlink satellites in space to Elon Musk’s platform X. This demonstrated sending posts directly from a satellite to a phone without additional equipment.
The post included a timestamp and was sent from a SpaceX Direct to Cell satellite. An engineer confirmed it was the first such post sent this way.
Earlier, SpaceX’s team had exchanged direct messages on X, with an engineer posting a photo from his location in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
It’s unclear if that earlier exchange also used the satellites or same location. But this post demonstrted capability from a satellite to a standard phone.
Musk congratulated the team, noting the post required no special equipment between the satellite and mobile phone.
An engineer commented they are making progress and the Starlink satellites currently have the strongest cell signal at his home outside Silicon Valley.
SpaceX plans to launch text messaging this year and broader voice, data and IoT services via satellites to phones by 2025, starting with partnerships in countries like the US, Chile, New Zealand and others.
Source: forbes
