I really appreciate your comments. This stuff needs to be out there more. I expect crosslinks and backhaul up/down will be multipath laser w adaptive optics, n

I really appreciate your comments. This stuff needs to be out there more. I expect crosslinks and backhaul up/down will be multipath laser w adaptive optics, not RF. As you say the physics demands it. At 1100 km altitude each satellite has vacuum line-of-site to any other satellite within 6000 km (ground track). By "skipping" satellites you gain extra bandwidth capacity and reduce latency. Easy to route around damage, with no single point of failure (unlike fiber in certain areas). Obviously this will all be optimized with network and timing analysis to hell and back, just like fiber. LEO has advantages of lower distance traveled, dramatically lower attenuation, faster speed of light, fewer hops, no cable breaks to fix, and no actual cable to run (which the expensive part of fiber, after all). You just build the repeaters, and exploit the fact that the exosphere is really transparent. Musk, a guy who knows his physics and math, predicts in that youtube video that they'll ultimately do "more than half" of all long distance traffic. He also acknowledges that they have to 'skate to where the puck will be' re: telecommunication technology or they'll end up dead like innumerable predecessors. It's an interesting watch.