Sony to build space lasers with a new satellite services unit

Sony announced the formation of a new firm on Thursday that would create and provide technologies that allow tiny satellites in orbit to interact with one another through laser beams, entering the fast-growing space sector. Sony Space Communications Corp, which was founded on Wednesday, intends to use laser technology to bypass a radio frequency congestion. The gadgets will communicate between space satellites and satellites connecting with ground stations.

The business did not specify when it hopes to have its first commercial gadget in orbit, whether it already has clients lined up, or how much money it has invested in the technology yet.

There are approximately 12,000 satellites in orbit, a figure that is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years as rocket companies reduce the cost of launching things into space and companies like Amazon (AMZN.O) and SpaceX build vast networks of low-earth satellites to carry internet communications around the world.

“The amount of data used in orbit is rising year by year, but the amount of available radio waves is limited,” said Kyohei Iwamoto, head of the new business.

SpaceX develops its own laser communications devices, which it initially deployed on its Starlink satellites late last year. Sony stated that one of its first successful tests happened in 2020 when it transferred high-definition image data by laser from the International Space Station to a Japanese base station.