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Surur t1_j247l95 wrote

Reply to comment by ovirt001 in SpaceX launches 54 upgraded Starlink internet satellites and nails rocket landing at sea in 60th flight of the year by ovirt001

When they promised a launch a week in the beginning of the year that seemed unlikely, but they managed to exceed even that ambitious target.

BTW, do these satellites have inter-satellite lasers or not? It seemed unclear from what I have been reading.

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JustAPairOfMittens t1_j24rtbp wrote

Yes their new spec does. I'm thinking the previous gen had a variation of Lazer tech as well but someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Sats take about 90 days to begin connecting to the Starlink network and reach their proper orbit, so any benefit is felt usually in the next season.

Just as an example I was having a tough time with about 5-8 disconnects a day of 5-15 seconds each last winter.

By the summer it was 2 per day.

Fall it was 3-5 a week.

Now it's maybe once a week when an owl or crow land on my satellite or some massive snowstorm and it dips for a few seconds once.

I've always had 100% visibility no obstructions. No hardware faults. Starlink support told me to expect these improvements over time.

Lasers will certainly enhance stability further.

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ovirt001 OP t1_j249axz wrote

I haven't found a clear answer either but I suspect they've been deploying only second-gen satellites (which have the laser comm capability).

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Surur t1_j24e25v wrote

I have heard them called Starlink 1.5 satellites because they are the same size as the version 1 satellites.

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gopher65 t1_j25gtju wrote

Yes, all the v1.5 and beyond Starlink have had laser links. They have enough laser capable sats in orbit now that they've been able to open up some locations that aren't within reach of base stations. As the older Starlink sats deorbit over the next few years they'll be replaced with versions with lasers as well.

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