Amazon to connect Kuiper satellites with laser links to boost space internet network

Amazon to connect Kuiper satellites with laser links to boost space internet network


A visualization of laser links connecting Kuiper satellites in orbit around the Earth.

Amazon

Amazon will include a key speed-boosting technology in its coming Project Kuiper internet satellites, the company announced Thursday.

Amazon says it tested the laser link tech successfully during its recent Protoflight mission. Traditionally, satellites are limited to sending data between an individual spacecraft and the ground. Laser links connect satellites to each other.

The Kuiper satellites’ “optical inter-satellite links,” also known as OISLs, serve as a way to transmit data through space. Laser links are a feature that Elon Musk’s SpaceX began introducing in later generations of its Starlink satellites. The links help improve both the latency and speed of these networks.

“With optical inter-satellite links across our satellite constellation, Project Kuiper will effectively operate as a mesh network in space,” Rajeev Badyal, Amazon’s Project Kuiper vice president of technology, said in a statement.

Sign up here to receive weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter.

Amazon’s pair of Kuiper prototype satellites “completed multiple successful” laser link demonstrations, the company said. During the tests, the Kuiper prototype satellites maintained links that transferred data at 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) over a distance of nearly 621 miles between the spacecraft.

“Because light travels faster in space than it does through glass, Kuiper’s orbital laser mesh network will be able to move data approximately 30% faster than if it traveled the equivalent distance via terrestrial fiber optic cables,” Amazon said.

The company plans to include laser links from the outset in production of its commercial Kuiper satellites, with the network planned to consist of 3,236 satellites in low Earth orbit. To date, Amazon has ordered 97 rocket launches to begin deploying its satellites in the first half of next year. In full, Amazon expects to invest upward of $10 billion to build Kuiper.

How Amazon's Project Kuiper is taking on SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:



Source

‘Superman’ snares .5 million in Thursday previews on way to 0 million opening
Business

‘Superman’ snares $22.5 million in Thursday previews on way to $140 million opening

David Corenswet stars are Superman in Warner Bros.’ “Superman.” Warner Bros. Discovery It’s not a bird or a plane that soared into cinemas Thursday night — it was Warner Bros.’ “Superman.” The first film in the new era of DC films under James Gunn and Peter Safran snared $22.5 million from preview showings. It’s the […]

Read More
Levi Strauss raises sales guidance, says it will absorb some tariff costs for now
Business

Levi Strauss raises sales guidance, says it will absorb some tariff costs for now

Levi Strauss raised its full-year guidance Thursday and said it’s working to absorb some of the costs it’s facing from higher tariffs, but that could change as President Donald Trump’s trade policy evolves.  The denim maker doesn’t disclose its key manufacturing hubs, but much of its supply comes from Southeast Asia. Many countries in the […]

Read More
IMAX is headed for its best year on record as it capitalizes on Hollywood’s box office rebound
Business

IMAX is headed for its best year on record as it capitalizes on Hollywood’s box office rebound

General atmosphere during an IMAX private screening for the movie “First Man” at an AMC theater in New York City on Oct. 10, 2018. Lars Niki | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images More than a year before “F1: The Movie” would eventually hit theaters, Apple struck a deal with IMAX. The studio secured the […]

Read More