China Strikes Hard: Chinese Satellite Pulverizes Starlink With a 2-Watt Laser 36,000 KM From Earth

A Chinese satellite has just done something that surprised the world—it managed to beat the speed of Starlink’s internet signal using a laser that’s only as strong as a dim nightlight, from a staggering distance of 36,000 kilometers above Earth. That’s over 60 times higher than where Starlink satellites usually orbit, yet it still managed to send data faster than Starlink can.

The Chinese team behind this project used a laser that’s just 2 watts—about as bright as a candle—but still managed to transmit data at 1 gigabit per second (Gbps). To put that in perspective, Starlink usually manages a few hundred megabits per second, and its satellites are much closer to Earth, about 550 kilometers up. The laser’s success was even more impressive because it had to send its signal through Earth’s atmosphere, which usually disrupts and weakens laser communication.

This major success was made possible by scientists led by Professor Wu Jian from Peking University and Liu Chao from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They figured out how to overcome a big problem in laser communication: the way the Earth’s atmosphere causes light to bend and scatter, making it hard to keep a clear signal. Their solution combined two advanced techniques—Adaptive Optics (AO), which corrects distortions in the laser beam, and Mode Diversity Reception (MDR), which captures scattered light to improve signal quality. When these two methods are used together, they create a much clearer, more stable signal, even when the laser is weak and the atmosphere is chaotic.

Up until now, using only AO or MDR by themselves wasn’t good enough when the atmosphere got really turbulent. But by combining them, the Chinese researchers made a system that works even in rough conditions, which is a huge step forward for laser-based satellite communication.

This breakthrough is more than just a faster internet connection—it could completely change how we send data around the world. Since this technology doesn’t need as many ground-based stations or heavy infrastructure, it could make global communication faster, cheaper, and more reliable. Industries that rely on fast, real-time data—like video streaming, phone and internet companies, or space missions—stand to benefit the most. Even simple things like watching high-definition videos could become smoother and faster with less lag.

More importantly, this shows how far China has come in space technology. It’s not just a big win for China, but for scientists everywhere who are trying to improve how we communicate through space. With this kind of innovation, laser communication from satellites might soon replace the radio systems we’ve used for decades. Lasers can offer faster speeds, bigger data capacity, and lower delays, which are all crucial for things like internet service, space exploration, and even GPS.

This achievement proves that the future of satellite communication is changing fast—and laser technology might be the next big thing that takes it to the next level.