Elon Musk made a big statement on Twitter that will definitely add popularity to the Starlink satellite internet system, which his company SpaceX is deploying. It turns out that SpaceX will soon start launching new satellites – with lasers, and this is a fundamental moment.
The laser will ensure the transfer of information from satellite to satellite at a speed that will be 40% higher than the data transfer rate in modern optical fiber. It is generally accepted that data is transmitted in optical fiber at the speed of light, but in reality this conditional speed of light differs from the real one with which light travels in a vacuum. In the first case, a correction is made for the refractive index, which is approximately 1.44-1.46. Therefore, in an optical cable, the data transfer rate is approximately 208 189 206 m / s. If we are talking about the fact that the speed in inter-satellite connections Starlink will be 40% higher, then it will be approximately 291 464 888 m / s, and this is already approximately 97% of the speed of light in vacuum (299 792 458 m / s). Round up, and it turns out that the satellites of the Starlink system will exchange data with each other at the speed of light. What does it do? The use of such a fast laser data exchange channel will reduce the time spent by satellites in communication with ground stations, as well as increase the coverage area, since data will be transmitted across continents without returning to earth. In turn, SpaceX will be able, if not completely, then at least partially, to abandon ground stations.
Processing is not an issue. Lasers links alleviate ground station constraints, so data can go from say Sydney to London through space, which is ~40% faster speed of light than fiber & shorter path.
Also, no need for ground stations everywhere. Arctic will have great bandwidth!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2021
Inter-satellite communication has already been mentioned by SpaceX in the second generation aircraft characterization along with other improvements. The company is expected to launch approximately 30,000 of these satellites, and those already in orbit will receive a number of upgrades.
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