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0 pointsec1096854y ago0 comments

They are working on satellite to satellite links: https://spacenews.com/spacex-adds-laser-crosslinks-to-polar-...

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True but for best latency and speeds a direct link back to ground would be best. I think the laser links would be more for remote areas and oceans where downlinks are impossible.

lmm4y ago

> True but for best latency and speeds a direct link back to ground would be best.

Speed maybe, latency no. Light is faster in a vacuum than through a fiber optic cable, so a satellite-to-satellite path would generally be faster even though it has to go a few hundred km further.

GekkePrutser4y ago

True but in each satellite it has to be processed, integrity checked routed and queued to the next hop. That kind of stuff takes much longer than any differences in light speeds.

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GekkePrutser4y ago

True but for best latency and speeds a direct link back to ground would be best. I think the laser links would be more for remote areas and oceans where downlinks are impossible.

lmm4y ago

> True but for best latency and speeds a direct link back to ground would be best.

Speed maybe, latency no. Light is faster in a vacuum than through a fiber optic cable, so a satellite-to-satellite path would generally be faster even though it has to go a few hundred km further.

GekkePrutser4y ago

True but in each satellite it has to be processed, integrity checked routed and queued to the next hop. That kind of stuff takes much longer than any differences in light speeds.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse