Communicating with followers on Twitter, Musk said that the transition to laser communication will not only speed up data transmission, but also allow the company to abandon ground-based base stations.
The Starlink satellite Internet system can get rid of ground stations. This is reported by the publication Wccftech.
Communicating with followers on Twitter, Musk said that the transition to laser communication will not only speed up data transmission, but also allow the company to abandon ground-based base stations. The entrepreneur noticed that at the moment the Internet signal from the Starlink satellites passes, including through the fiber-optic network. The rejection of wires will allow you to accelerate the speed and make the Starlink network more autonomous.
Elon Musk promised that the speed of signal transmission via satellite Internet will reach 180,832 miles per hour. For comparison, the speed through the cable is approaching 129,166 miles per hour, and the speed of light is about 186,282 miles per hour. Thus, data will be transmitted through the Starlink network at close to the speed of light.
At the moment, the Starlink infrastructure consists of three elements — a satellite, a base station, and a user terminal. Data from users is transmitted to satellites, which, in turn, send a signal to ground stations. Then the signal goes back to the user. Laser communication will allow you to exclude ground stations from the chain.
The information that all new Starlink satellites will receive laser communication was confirmed by the president of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell, at the end of August. The launch of the first batch of updated Starlink spacecraft equipped with laser terminals on a Falcon 9 heavy rocket is scheduled for mid-September.
