Laser communication and data exchange between satellites is beginning to prove its worth. Developed by the American company SpaceX, this technology is expected to become increasingly widespread.

SpaceX is planning to market its laser link technology, which enables satellites to communicate with each other and share data at lightning speed. The idea is for other companies to benefit from this technology, to guarantee fast, reliable communication between their various satellites.

SpaceX is already using this technology for its Starlink satellite internet connection service. A system of nearly 9,000 laser beams links the various Starlink satellites.

These lasers considerably reduce latency and improve the overall coverage of the service, maintaining a connection speed of well over 100Gbps per link, sometimes even reaching 200Gbps. SpaceX plans to place several thousand satellites in low-Earth orbit as part of its constellation project dedicated to providing global coverage for Earth, including the most isolated areas, such as oceans and deserts.

Technically, in order to optimise throughput between them, the satellites must continually reposition themselves. And while the satellites communicate with each other by laser, their terrestrial transmissions use radio frequencies.

 - AFP Relaxnews