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Comment by culi | Hacker News Reader

I didn't realize that in addition to the 11,127 satellites in our orbit it also takes over 1,500 ground antenna in the US alone to run this network? It seems likely that there is much more ground infrastructure than space infrastructure to make Starlink work

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How else do you expect the satellites to connect to AWS or Google? It obviously has to come down at some point otherwise your packets wouldn’t be able to go anywhere…

The satellites are glorified repeaters.

There was some talk about having the satellites form a laser mesh but I don't think they've gone live with anything like that, so it almost always just comes back down at the nearest site.

Most of the satellites now have three 200GBps inter-satellite links. The starlink V3 that will be launched on the big rocket reportedly have six ISLs.

Since when? Last I heard this was just vaporware.

Since 2021 when they started deploying the v1.5 satellites.

The only source I have ever seen is the US SDA confirming they have seen a demonstration of Starlink’s ISL, in 2024.

Do you have any more detailed or up to date information? I’m not doubting that they built ISL capabilities, since ISL is often used for collision avoidance and small scale satcom - I’m doubting that it is being actively used to route internet traffic.

I used it in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a Hawaiian Airlines flight two years ago, where have you been

I think you’re missing part of the conversation here. We are not discussing Starlink’s capability to deliver internet signals.

it's a LEO constellation, the only way it can deliver Internet in the middle of the ocean is by using the inter-satellite lasers

Yes, they had these plans from the get-go so launching the necessary hardware is not surprising. The question was whether anything like that went live

Once it does go live, anyone could see the lower ping between two users of this network. If they say it got enabled, that wouldn't be hard to independently verify

Its already live, Starlink works in the Arctic far outside the line of sight of any base station.

What demonstrates ISL use is service availability in the middle of oceans, far from any ground station.

https://www.starlinkflights.com/how-to-check-starlink-flight:

"Unlike older geostationary satellite systems that had coverage gaps and high latency over remote oceans, Starlink's low-earth orbit constellation covers the entire globe. Qatar Airways, United Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and airBaltic all offer uninterrupted Starlink on long-haul international routes."

Do you have a source for this claim?

SpaceX form S-1 filed on 5/20/2026:

"... as of March 31, 2026, our constellation already incorporated over 23,000 inter-satellite lasers that create a dynamic mesh network in space, enabling traffic to route through orbit rather than relying solely on terrestrial backhaul infrastructure."

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026...

Yes, it turns out I'm wrong about them not doing inter-satellite links.

Wait. They're not doing the orbital mesh?!

I thought that was fundamental to the whole network?

Not another Elon bullshit?

Don’t jump on the ignorance bandwagon.

I wasn't, I was asking if it was another bullshit exaggeration from Musk. I though the laser interlinks were fundamental, but I'd as easily be unsuprirsed if they were Starlink's equivalent of 'FSD autopilot'.

I'm generally pro-SpaceX and am impressed with the rate of Starlink's development, but given his long history of ...shall we say... 'over-promising' it seems prudent to check the detail.

They are doing orbital mesh, still need downlinks though, and having them close to the earthbound endpoint is key for low latency.

[0]https://www.trackstarlink.com/guides/starlink-laser-links-ex... [1]https://starlink.com/technology

Well, if they are just glorified repeaters, perhaps european union can hurry the fuck up and build their own network, because at the pace of events we are seeing in about 1 year from now, the USA and Russia will tell us how Ukraine and EU are responsible for starting the war and they need to learn a lesson.

Oh wait, we are already here as if few days ago. Never mind.

Laser link has been operational since 2021:

https://www.trackstarlink.com/guides/starlink-laser-links-ex...

They’ve had it since at least 2022, here is a more recent document explaining access in the middle of the ocean for Royal Caribbean cruise ships:

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/guides/wifi-cruise-packages

My starlinks in Central Asia emerge from Bulgaria, 2,500 miles away.

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