Star Wars reality: Chinese satellite outperforms Starlink
A Chinese team has set a new record: their satellite, sitting way out in geostationary orbit, beamed data down to Earth at 1Gbps using just a 2-watt laser.
That's five times faster than Starlink, whose satellites are much closer to us.
The brains behind this? Researchers Wu Jian and Liu Chao, who led the project.
How did they achieve this feat?
Atmospheric turbulence usually scrambles laser signals, but the team built an adaptive optics-mode diversity reception (AO-MDR) system that fixes light distortion and grabs scattered signals.
This clever tech kept their high-speed connection stable over huge distances—pretty impressive for space internet.
Implications of the breakthrough
This breakthrough could make satellite internet way faster and more reliable, with less complicated ground gear.
It might even boost GPS accuracy and real-time data sharing in space.
For China, it's another big step toward leading the world in next-gen space communication.