SpaceX pledged at the end of July to improve Starlink’s relationship with laser technology. Yesterday (24), Gwin Shotwell, COO and president of the company founded by Elon Musk, confirmed that they are fulfilling this commitment – which is why no new satellite launches of the Internet platform have taken place since June 30th.

“We are now launching a series of laser terminals into space,” Shotwell said. That’s what we’ve been focusing on for the last six to eight weeks – we need the next wave [de satélites] It already had laser terminals. ”

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Starlink is SpaceX’s satellite Internet platform, a constellation of about 2,000 satellites placed by the company in low orbit. This service is currently in public beta in 11 countries (US, Canada, UK, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, France, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark); Two closed Tests (Ireland and Chile); Finally, in October 2021, Mexico is in the planning stage.

Basically, laser terminals allow satellites to communicate better with each other and to data transfer stations located on the ground. But its main advantage is that it saves costs without losing the quality of service.

This is because for each wave of Starlink satellites launched into space, SpaceX must build at least one data transfer station on Earth. The problem is that not all terrain supports this construction, so the theory is that laser terminals will allow more satellites to “talk” to the same stations.

Shotwell’s remarks were made in the current issue of the Space Symposium. The COO used the opportunity to warn that this “stop” in launch would not last long: Accordingly, SpaceX plans to launch a new wave of satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket in three weeks, but how many satellites will go into orbit this time around without giving a specific date or announcement.

Another thing she touched on was the risk of collisions between satellites: Today, the company has more than 1,600 active satellites (more than 1,700 launched) in space. However, the documentation she has completed with government officials speaks of “a constellation of 45,000 moons.”

According to a survey by the Astronautical Research Group, Starlink’s satellites are involved in 1,600 crashes a week between their own satellites or other companies such as Amazon or OneWeb.

Shotwell said Spot‌X always submits resources and thinks “non-stop” about new security measures to avoid such failures, underscoring its products’ autonomous crash detection and automatic course correction capabilities.

“The worst thing in the world would be such a collision,” she said.

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