SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has revealed that the Starlink satellite internet service will be able to transfer data almost at the speed of light. Aiming to deliver services worldwide, Starlink has begun operations in the beta stage for pioneers and will continue to expand. According to reports, the internet speed, for now, is not so good, but that’s only because it’s in the beta stage and will surely be fixed with time.
SpaceX’s satellites to launch into orbit will also be equipped with lasers so they won’t have to rely on ground stations.
At the moment, the Starlink network still uses satellites, dishes, and ground stations which the company seems to be getting rid of. For a while, the ground stations have been the reason that data transfers have been relatively slow. This is because of the long time they take to communicate with the satellites. However, with lasers, the speed of transmission is about to increase by 40% of what it used to be in optical fibers, says Musk. So therefore, we just might be in for a ride with this blazing fast internet.
Based on what Musk said, some calculations have already been made using the present speed with optical fiber. Results show Starlink will transfer data packets at 180,832 miles per second. That’s approximately 97% of the speed of light in a vacuum.
Musk has expressed that very soon, Starlink will ensure to get rid of the ground station element from the whole of Arctic and make enough bandwidths available as well. Considering how fast things are happening at SpaceX, this is very achievable and in no time as well. SpaceX will also be increasing the data capacity by three folds while reducing latencies to 50ms, so as to aid coverage to remote areas with the help of the company’s state-of-the-art satellites.
SpaceX is also presently speeding up the launch of over 1,200 Starlink satellites in the coming months but will likely face some sort of delay. This delay is well expected as rocket oxidizer is presently scarce, and satellite manufacturing is usually tedious.
