Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
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Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#2The article mentions that they were able to stream video from a starlink satellite as it was de-orbiting - it would be neat to see the video of that, even if it cuts off as the laser link losing connection (or the satellite burns up)
Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#3Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#442M GB Per day = 3.9tbps
Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#5My understanding of the state of the art of inter-satellite optical links is that they have only been used between satellites that are basically in the same orbital plane and in more or less the same orbit. That is, the angle from one satellite to the other changes very very slowly, so that the optics don't have to do much tracking -- and consequently satellites can only form an optical link with other satellites that are ahead or behind themselves in ~ the same orbit.
Cross-plane optical links would have a trickier tracking problem.
While there's no explicit mention of same-plane vs cross-plane optical links, I assume that the first time people have a public cross-plane optical link, they will make a big deal out of it. :)
The article also mentions that SpaceX would need to do further study before using laser links between satellites and ground stations-- this kind of optical link would require both more angular tracking and probably atmospheric correction as well.
Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#6> The lasers, which can sustain a 100Gbps connection per link
> Brashears also said Starlink’s laser system was able to connect two satellites over 5,400 kilometers (3,355 miles) apart. The link was so long “it cut down through the atmosphere, all the way down to 30 kilometers above the surface of the Earth,” he said, before the connection broke.
How do these tiny satellites achieve this kind of accuracy and link quality when they're shooting around Earth with 17.000 miles an hour?
(Meanwhile, me on Earth, has link quality issues due to a speck of dust on a fiber connector)
Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#7> "We actually serve over lasers all of our users on Starlink at a given time in like a two-hour window"
I can't figure out what this sentence means.
Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#8My understanding of the state of the art of inter-satellite optical links is that they have only been used between satellites that are basically in the same orbital plane and in more or less the same orbit. That is, the angle from one satellite to the other changes very very slowly, so that the optics don't have to do much tracking -- and consequently satellites can only form an optical link with other satellites tha…
Tracking is an issue, but doppler can also be a thing. At orbital speed (actually up to 2x orbital speeds) the doppler effect between two satellites can change the frequency enough to cause interference. Moving a scope to track a moving target is one problem, allowing the algorithms to adapt at the frequency shifts on the fly another.
Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#9> "We actually serve over lasers all of our users on Starlink at a given time in like a two-hour window" I can't figure out what this sentence means.
That any SpaceX user who has a connection established for >2h will have their data sent not via the classic path "ground - satellite - ground" at least once during the connection, but via "ground - satellite 1 - satellite 2 - ground".
Re: Starlink's laser system is beaming 42 petabytes of data per day
#10> "We actually serve over lasers all of our users on Starlink at a given time in like a two-hour window" I can't figure out what this sentence means.
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