zlacker

>>alden5+(OP)
So that is "432 Mbit/s per laser, and 9000 lasers total". I don't know you guys but I find that statement much more relatable than "42 PB/day". Interestingly, they also say each laser "can sustain a 100Gbps connection per link" (although another part of the article even claims 200 Gbit/s). That means each laser is grossly underused on average, at 0.432% of its maximum capacity. Which makes sense since 100 Gbit/s is probably achievable in ideal situations (eg. 2 satellites very close to each other), so these laser links are used in bursts and the link stays established only for a few tens of seconds or minutes, until the satellites move away and no longer are within line of sight of each other.

And with 2.3M customers, that's an average 1.7 Mbit/s per customer, or 550 GB per customer per month, which is kinda high. The average American internet user probably consumes less than 100 GB/month. (HN readers are probably outliers; I consume about 1 TB/month).

>>mrb+b46
>these laser links are used in bursts and the link stays established only for a few tens of seconds or minutes, until the satellites move away

The way Starlink satellites are in orbit, the same satellites will remain "ahead" and "behind" you in the orbital plane. Those laser links (specifically!) will remain relatively persistent. This arrangement is similar to Iridium FYI.

FTA: "in some cases, the links can also be maintained for weeks at a time"

>>schiff+096
Partially! There are also ascending and descending satellites meeting. Ascending and descending doesn't mean altitude but in a "2D view" sense. See https://www.heavens-above.com/StarLink.aspx

>>Gravit+Zaa
Thanks, this is an important point. I missed the fact that Starlink's orbital planes actually cover the full 360° of RAAN[0], not just 180° like Iridium did (presumably to minimize the number of satellites).

So actually this Iridium-type "seam" disappears, meaning that every satellite should always have co-orbiting "neighbors" on both sides. Cool!

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_ascension_of_the_ascendi...