Elon Musk loses space race to Tim Peake! British astronaut works with Vodafone to make the world's first space video call - pipping Starlink to the post

The US may have won the space race back in 1969 by being the first nation to put a man on the moon. 

But now, more than 50 years later, Britain has finally won a space race of its own.

British astronaut Tim Peake has teamed up with Vodafone to make the first ever direct-to-cell satellite video call - pipping Elon Musk's Starlink to the post.

The achievement comes just days after Musk began the first tests of his own direct-to-cell system, leaving the billionaire playing catch-up.  

Direct-to-cell satellite technology allows anyone to connect to broadband services by connecting directly to a satellite in orbit - whether they have a mobile signal or not. 

According to Vodafone, this means the days of being stranded without signal are 'definitely' at an end.

Speaking to MailOnline, Tim Peake, who was the first British astronaut to live on the International Space Station (ISS), said: 'Having been in space, you really appreciate the value of being able to contact your friends and family when you're in a remote area.

'When I was on the ISS, once a week I would have a call back to my family, and having the video call made a big difference.'

Typically, when you make a video call your device sends a signal to a tower on the ground which transfers the data through the ground-based network to the recipient.

Some technologies, like satellite phones or Starlink, allow users to bypass that terrestrial network and connect directly to a communications satellite.

Since those satellites are so far above the Earth, they can provide coverage to areas where it isn't possible to build cellular towers.

The major drawback is that these require bulky and often expensive equipment to send and receive signals from space.

Now, in a world first, Vodafone has managed to make a video call via a satellite using a normal, unmodified smartphone.

Vodafone engineer Rowan Chesmer managed to call Vodafone CEO, Margherita Della Valle, from a remote mountainous location in mid-Wales which has never been connected to a broadband network.

This was made possible by a series of extremely large communications satellites in orbit.

Each of the BlueBird satellites in Vodafone's network features a huge 64-metre-squared (693 square feet) communications array sensitive enough to connect directly to a mobile phone on Earth.

Ms Della Valle told MailOnline: 'It uses normal devices and normal services.

'It is also the full mobile experience, with the full potential of delivering data services.'

The satellite then beams those signals back to Earth via Vodafone's new space-land gateway in the UK.

The first of its kind in Europe, Ms Della Valle says the space-land gateway acts like an 'Earth station', integrating the satellite and terrestrial networks.

A single gateway provides enough coverage to give satellite broadband connection to everyone living in the UK, enabling them to access 4G and 5G no matter where they are.

So, when Mr Chesmer made his call, the data was sent up to one of the orbiting satellites, bounced back to the space-land gateway, and then sent through the terrestrial network to Ms Della Valle's device.

Ms Della Valle says: 'We are extremely proud because we've had many firsts.

'Almost exactly 40 years ago Vodafone made the first mobile phone call, and it's great to see us again at the cutting edge of this technology.

'We have big plans for the UK with our 5G investment and this is going to be a perfect complement to those areas.'

While this is only a first test, Ms Della Valle says that the first commercial services will be available in Europe by the end of this year, with more coverage to roll out in 2026. 

Vodafone is not the only company pursuing satellite communications.

Most notably, Elon Musk's Starlink has begun testing its own direct-to-cell satellite connections which would allow unmodified mobile phones to connect to the Starlink network.

However, Ms Della Valle appears unfazed by the prospect of taking on the biggest name in space technology.

'We're not competing with anyone, we're covering satellites to bring the best service to our customers,' she says.

Regardless, this first video call now puts Vodafone a significant step ahead of Musk.

So far, Starlink has only managed to send a text via its satellite network which requires much less bandwidth than a video call or the ubiquitous 5G connection boasted by Vodafone.

In a post on X in December last year, Musk admitted: 'Bandwidth per beam is only ~10Mb'.

In comparison, the Bluebird satellites used by Vodafone have a peak transmission speed of 120 Mbps. 

Starlink does have a significant advantage in its partnership with SpaceX, Elon Musk's rocket and spacecraft company.

By launching aboard SpaceX rockets, Starlink has already managed to put 6,912 communications satellites, including about 330 which are direct-to-cell capable.

That gives Starlink the potential to provide much more coverage than the five satellites used by Vodafone could offer.

However, Mr Peake believes that Musk's advantage might not last much longer.

He says: 'We have SpaceX dominating the launch market but they're about to have some serious competition.

'What that’s doing is bringing down the cost of access to space, which means we can do more in space.'