Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX launched 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit on Monday and also its next generation Starlink optical space lasers.
What Happened: “Our next generation Starlink optical space lasers (pew pew!) were launched to orbit on Monday,” the post on Starlink’s official X account read.
Starlink is testing lasers on its satellites to allow it to transmit data without local ground stations. Currently, there are more than 8000 space lasers across the constellation, the post added.
These space lasers allow the satellites to connect thousands of kilometers apart and enable data transfer of up to 100 Gbps by maintaining pointing accuracy.
“Starlink's laser mesh network allows us to provide truly global coverage and serve those in the most remote locations on Earth, including maritime and aviation customers,” Starlink added.
SpaceX CEO Musk himself shared the post with the caption, “Frickin' satellites with "lasers" [air quotes].”
Why It Matters: Starlink on Saturday said that it now has over 2 million active customers, adding a million more in the last 9 months.
Starlink— the broadband satellite internet provided by SpaceX with the help of satellites in low-Earth orbit—had about 1 million active subscribers globally at the end of 2022, implying that it added a million more since the start of this year. SpaceX launched the first Starlink satellites to orbit in 2019.
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