ELI5: How do Starlink satellites talk to each other?

Imagine you and your friends are playing a game of telephone across a really, REALLY big field. You can't shout loud enough for everyone to hear you directly. That's kind of like how Starlink satellites need to talk to each other.

Instead of shouting, you pass the message on to the next person, and they pass it on, and so on, until it reaches the last person. Starlink satellites do something similar using radio waves, which are like invisible signals.

Here's how it works:

• Satellite A has a message (like a website address or a video) that needs to go to Earth.
• It can't always send the message directly to the ground because the Earth is curved.
• So, Satellite A sends the message using radio waves to Satellite B, which is closer to the place on Earth where the message needs to go. This is like passing the message to your friend in the field.
• Satellite B might then send the message to Satellite C, and so on, until it reaches a satellite that can send the message down to a ground station (a special antenna on Earth).
• The ground station then sends the message through regular internet cables to your computer or phone.

So, Starlink satellites talk to each other by bouncing radio waves from one satellite to another, like playing a cosmic game of telephone to bring you the internet.