Elon Musk's Starlink claims to transfer data close to speed of light

San Francisco: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has claimed that his satellite-based internet service 'Starlink' will have the capability of data transfer at a speed as high as light.

At present, the Starlink network relies on a dish, satellites and ground stations, GizmoChina reported.

With lasers, the transmission speed, as Musk claims, is expected to be around 40 per cent faster than what it usually is in optical fibres, the report said.

Hence, we might witness blazing fast internet transfer capabilities without having the need to touch the ground, it added.

As per the report, considering Musk's statement and calculating the speed based on the existing speed with optical fibre, Starlink will be able to transfer data packets at 180,832 miles per second and it turns out that this speed is approximately 97 per cent of the speed of light in a vacuum.

From what it looks, the company is aiming to get rid of these ground stations that have proved to be a hindrance to fast data transfers due to the long time they take to communicate with the satellites.

Musk has ensured that Starlink will soon cut down the ground station element from the whole of Arctic and provide enough bandwidths as well.

Recently, Musk has stated on Twitter that his aerospace company SpaceX could launch Starlink in India soon. Replying to a Twitter post, Musk said that the company is figuring out how the regulatory approval process in the country would work for Starlink.

Meanwhile, Starlink shipped 100,000 terminals to customers recently. The project aims to provide global broadband connectivity via a constellation of satellites.