China has achieved a breakthrough in the field of ground-to-satellite laser communication, successfully completing the world's first 100Gbps (gigabits per second) ultra-high-speed high-resolution remote sensing image transmission trial, surpassing SpaceX's Starlink system in this field.
According to reports from Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and Beijing Daily client, Changguang Satellite Technology Co. announced that the company used a self-developed vehicle-mounted laser communication ground station to conduct the first 100Gbps ultra-high-speed high-resolution remote sensing image transmission trial with the 'Jilin-1' platform 02A02 satellite-borne laser terminal.
The company stated that this achievement is ten times the previous record, accomplished between a truck-mounted ground station and the Jilin-1 constellation satellite. The report noted that unlike conventional ground receiving installations, the Chinese team set the observation station on a truck, giving it mobility and accelerating the speed of application.
Wang Xinghang, the technical head of Changguang Satellite's laser communication ground station, said this technology can boost transmission speed to 100Gbps, "equivalent to transmitting 10 full movies in one second," marking an important step for China in constructing ultra-high-speed optical network transmission integrated between satellites and the ground.
He said that Elon Musk's Starlink system, although showcasing an inter-satellite laser communication system, has yet to deploy ground-to-satellite laser communication.
The report noted that the Changguang Satellite team overcame challenges such as atmospheric channel compensation technology, high-precision time-frequency synchronization technology, dynamic correction of Doppler frequency shift, addressing issues like signal distortion caused by atmospheric turbulence, frequency drift due to high-speed relative motion between satellite and ground, weak light signal detection, and high-precision beam tracking.
Reportedly, the laser communication device used in this trial has been mounted on the 'Jilin-1' satellite constellation, which currently has 117 satellites in orbit and plans to expand to 300 satellites by 2027, becoming the world's largest sub-meter-level commercial remote sensing satellite constellation.
The application of this new technology will significantly enhance data return efficiency and be used in national defense security, disaster monitoring, smart cities, and provide technological support for the development of 6G.
The South China Morning Post reported that this breakthrough puts China ahead of the United States in laser communication technology. Though U.S. companies Lockheed Martin and Verizon are developing similar technology, they can only achieve data transmission with a 30-millisecond delay over a distance of 100 meters.