Starlink competition?
China Satellite Outperforms Starlink Using a Dim 2-Watt Laser Fired from 36,000 KM in Space
A Chinese satellite just outperformed Starlink—using a laser no stronger than a nightlight. Fired from 36,000 km above Earth, this silent tech breakthrough is shaking up the future of space internet, military comms, and deep space links.
To address this, researchers from Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a combined approach, called AO-MDR synergy, which dynamically corrects distorted laser beams in real time. Using an array of 357 micro-mirrors inside a 1.8-meter telescope at the Lijiang Observatory, the system reshaped incoming light, then split the corrected signal into eight separate channels via a multi-plane light converter. A real-time algorithm selected the three strongest for decoding.
That technique lifted the usable signal rate to 91.1%, significantly improving upon the 72% baseline reported in earlier systems, as documented in the peer-reviewed study published in Acta Optica Sinica.
The system’s most striking feature is its efficiency. The laser downlink operated using only 2 watts of power, which is comparable to a small nightlight. From geostationary orbit, that signal achieved a downlink speed of 1 gigabit per second (Gbps)—a performance level that, for now, places it far ahead of most commercial satellite internet services.
Starlink, by comparison, uses low Earth orbit satellites around 550 km high and requires an intricate network of thousands of fast-moving spacecraft to deliver service. Its current average download speeds hover near 67 megabits per second (Mbps), depending on location and network congestion.
China Satellite Obliterates Starlink Using a Dim 2-Watt Laser Fired from 36,000 KM in Space |
