Space News by Jeff Foust — January 26, 2021
The first Starlink satellites launched to polar orbit are equipped with laser crosslinks, a technology the company plans to add to other satellites next year.
Intersatellite links allow satellites to transfer communications from one satellite to another, either in the same orbital plane or an adjacent plane. Such links allow operators to minimize the number of ground stations, since a ground station no longer needs to be in the same satellite footprint as user terminals, and extend coverage to remote areas where ground stations are not available. They can also decrease latency, since the number of hops between satellites and ground stations are reduced.
SpaceX has tested intersatellite links on other Starlink satellites, although they are not in widespread use. During a September 2020 webcast of a Starlink launch, the company said it tested “space lasers†between two satellites, relaying hundreds of gigabytes of data. “Once these space lasers are fully deployed, Starlink will be one of the fastest options available to transfer data around the world,†the company said at the time.
More:
https://spacenews.com/spacex-adds-laser-crosslinks-to-polar-starlink-satellites/
