Recently, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, said that the beta test of "Star Chain" satellite Internet service will be completed in October this year.

Star Link is a satellite Internet project of SpaceX. From 2019 to 2024, SpaceX plans to use five years to send thousands of satellites needed for networking into low Earth orbit to form a "star chain" network to provide Internet services. At present, the "Starlink" network has launched over 1700 satellites.

The Speedtest report shows that in the second quarter of this year, the average download speed of the "Star Link" satellite Internet service in the U.S. market was 97.23 Mbps, not far from the average download speed of the U.S. fixed broadband, which was 115.22 Mbps.

After the crew of SpaceX's first private manned space mission shared their dining itinerary, Musk said that next time they will provide a "food heater" and "free wifi". He then explained in detail that Starlink would provide the Internet for future space travelers.

Starlink first tested satellites equipped with laser links in the second half of last year. Musk stated that in the future, all satellites launched by Starlink will use laser communication. The addition of laser intersatellite links enables "satellite link" satellites to transmit data and Internet services to each other without passing through ground stations.

This upgrade will enable SpaceX to provide network connectivity near polar regions and other areas where ground stations are not available. In addition to reducing the number of ground stations required for global coverage, laser cross links can also reduce latency by reducing the number of jumps between satellites and ground stations.

Source: Galaxy Space Roaming Guide