(Credit: SpaceX/Polaris Dawn)
It turns out Starlink’s laser system is robust enough to support live video streams from space.
While orbiting Earth, the Polaris Dawn mission was able to maintain at least two live video streams by taking advantage of the laser mesh network through SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.
One of the live streams occurred between the Polaris Dawn crew and SpaceX teams on Earth on Saturday morning, resulting in a “40+ minute uninterrupted video call," SpaceX tweeted.
The laser terminal, also known as the "plaser" on Polaris Dawn’s Dragon craft, also maintained a connection to a nearby Starlink satellite, despite the capsule performing 16 thruster firings. In the second live stream, Polaris Dawn crew member Anna Menon FaceTimed her family using Starlink.
The live streams underscore how future space missions could tap Starlink for internet access. Starlink is best known for supplying high-speed broadband to rural and remote areas on Earth. But SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also views the technology as a way to power communications on future flights to the Moon and Mars.
In a tweet, the lead commander for the Polaris Dawn Mission, Jared Isaacman, added: “We tested new laser-based Starlink communications, using it primarily as an alternative communication pathway to Mission Control.”
Other tests included sending a video of Polaris Dawn crew member Sarah Gillis performing a Star Wars melody with her violin on board the capsule.
Although Starlink satellites usually supply internet access through radio waves, the same constellation has also been harnessing lasers to create a mesh network, giving each satellite a way to communicate and relay data with each other. It now looks like the Polaris Dawn Mission was able to successfully connect with the laser network during its five-day mission, which ended early Sunday morning when the astronauts returned to Earth.