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They are working on satellite to satellite links: https://spacenews.com/spacex-adds-laser-crosslinks-to-polar-starlink-satellites/ https://spacenews.com/spacex-

• GekkePrutser 6y ago
  True but for best latency and speeds a direct link back to ground would be best. I think the laser links would be more for remote areas and oceans where downlinks are impossible.
  • lmm 6y ago
    > True but for best latency and speeds a direct link back to ground would be best. Speed maybe, latency no. Light is faster in a vacuum than through a fiber optic cable, so a satellite-to-satellite path would generally be faster even though it has to go a few hundred km further.
    • GekkePrutser 6y ago
      True but in each satellite it has to be processed, integrity checked routed and queued to the next hop. That kind of stuff takes much longer than any differences in light speeds.
      • lmm 6y ago
        No it doesn't, and it's not like you don't need to route messages travelling terrestrially. Anyone even vaguely familiar with the technology knows that what you're saying is straight-up false.