10 Starlink Satellites Launched Into Polar Orbits Include Laser Links
takyon writes:
SpaceX adds laser links to Starlink satellites to serve Earth's polar areas
SpaceX has begun launching Starlink satellites with laser links that will help provide broadband coverage in polar regions. As SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on Twitter on Sunday, these satellites "have laser links between the satellites, so no ground stations are needed over the poles."
The laser links are included in 10 Starlink satellites just launched into polar orbits. The launch came two weeks after SpaceX received Federal Communications Commission approval to launch the 10 satellites into polar orbits at an altitude of 560km.
"All sats launched next year will have laser links," Musk wrote in another tweet yesterday, indicating that the laser systems will become standard on Starlink satellites in 2022. For now, SpaceX is only including laser links on polar satellites. "Only our polar sats have lasers this year & are v0.9," Musk wrote.
Also at Wccftech.
Previously: SpaceX Successfully Launches Most Single-Mission Satellites Ever: 143 [Updates: 2]
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