T-Mobile has carried out the first wireless emergency alert (WEA) via satellite in the United States. This development opens up 500,000 square miles of the country that is lightly populated, mountainous and/or uninhabitable land, to life-saving emergency alerts.

On September 5th, T-Mobile initiated a test alert. The alert was sent 217 miles into space where it was received by one of the more than 175 Starlink direct-to-smartphone satellites currently in low-earth orbit. These effectively operate as cell towers in space. The alert was then broadcast to a geographic area affected by the hypothetical alert notice and received by a T-Mobile smartphone.

It took emergency operators seconds to queue up an emergency message and deliver that message via Starlink satellites to users on the ground.

T-Mobile and Starlink, with more than 175 direct-to-smartphone satellites currently in low-earth orbit, are currently testing satellite-to-smartphone service. Additional SpaceX launches are scheduled over the coming months to add more satellites to the current constellation, further blanketing the country with wireless coverage. As that happens, T-Mobile intends to beta test the service before launching it commercially.

“This is one of those days, as the CEO of a wireless company, that makes me pause for a moment and reflect on how technology advancements and the work we’re doing is truly impacting life and death situations,” said Mike Sievert.