Apple’s SOS feature would work better wiyh SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. Just last month, SpaceX and T-Mobile announced a plan called Coverage Above & Beyond that would provide text coverage to users in dead zones.
Coverage Above & Beyond will take a slice of T-Mobile’s mid-band PCS Spectrum and integrate it into Starlink satellites set to launch next year. The service will enter beta next year, starting with text, MMS, and select messaging apps.
Elon said they have had promising conversations with Apple about Starlink connectivity. Closing link from space to phone will work best if phone software & hardware adapt to space-based signals vs Starlink purely emulating cell tower. Dedicated hardware on the phone end could increase signal strength by maximizing battery power used for into satellite texts.
Dedicated hardware could speed up the communication from 2-4 megabits per second and improve the reliability of the transmission.
We’ve had some promising conversations with Apple about Starlink connectivity. iPhone team is obv super smart.
For sure, closing link from space to phone will work best if phone software & hardware adapt to space-based signals vs Starlink purely emulating cell tower.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 8, 2022
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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SpaceX just applied to the FCC to muscle in on Globalstar’s L-band spectrum, which Globalstar pretty much exclusively used.
This is big, because the Globalstar SEC filings state they need to dedicate 85%+ of their current AND future network to Apple SOS or face contractual repercussions. This is in the face of an approximately $600 million capital raise necessary to get their next satellite set out the door by 2025.
If the capital markets take a wait and see approach to the capital raise, Globalstar is in a world of hurt.