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An Interplanetary Laser Communications System
caffiend666 writes "A news article at Yahoo states NASA is planning on testing the first laser-based interplanetary communications system on the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter to be launched in 2009. 'Unlike radio frequency signals that wash over the entire Earth, Fitzgerald and his colleagues will be shooting for a much smaller target - the southwestern corner of the United States.' Does this mean we will soon have telescopes outside of our homes soon to pick up high definition TV signals instead of our current 18 inch dishes?"
Earth - 'Hey' ...' ;)
Mars - 'Hey'
Earth -
Mars - '...'
Earth - 'a/s/l?'
-Teiresias
will this be implemented with sharks with frikin lasers on their heads?
"goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
Some serious lag in UT2004
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
"Does this mean we will soon have telescopes outside of our homes soon to pick up high definition TV signals instead of our current 18 inch dishes?"
:D :D :D :D
Yes!!!! I get it!!! This is a joke in English!!!! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!! I am laughing at the joke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a good day friends!!!!!!! Let as laugh together like old comrades!!!!!
I'd be happy if I could communicate with women. Why don't they work on that first?
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
Suck on this, inverse-square law!
English is easier said than done.
"Does this mean we will soon have telescopes outside of our homes soon to pick up high definition TV signals instead of our current 18 inch dishes?" Yep, I looked into the near-future
Ever see a picture of Aricebo?
Yes. I've even taken pictures with radio telescopes, although not of the Aricebo facility. I've got an invisible light laser hanging around the place in some drawer or other too.
I've never been to Aricebo myself, but my mother has. She took pictures of it, in visible light.
Just a big version of what you got on your house.
My house is not so bedecked.
KFG
Your seek time will be astronomical!
*walking along street* Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm (humming a tune)... Wha? *looks up* AUUGGGHHHH!!! MY EEEEEEYEEEEESSSSS!!!
When you add lasers to anything, the net benefit is multiplied by %5555. Interstella 5555 is a prime example.
Ninjas also benefit from lasers ovbiously.
Yeah, but whatever you do, don't use an inverted tachyon beam! It would depolarize the cronoton particles, creating a feedback loop in the main deflector array that would inevitably lead to a plot complication.
DRM 'manages access' in the same way that a prison 'manages freedom'
At least it'll have frickin' laser beams.
Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
So now I cant look up at the sky without staring into the satellite and getting my eyes burned out??
Yeah, that one lasted until the RIAA sponsored hunters to take down their illegal filesharing network.
Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
"Does this mean we will soon have telescopes outside of our homes soon to pick up high definition TV signals instead of our current 18 inch dishes?"
What kind of asinine question is this? I love it when someone makes themself look like a fucking moron trying to ask some insightful question in their article submission in a thinly veiled attempt at having their submission accepted.
Of course we aren't going to soon use optics for TV distribution. It makes no sense. If a TV station were going to go out of their way to build a transmitter just to serve the house at 123 Any Street, that would be one thing, but TV stations want, and are required by law, to serve as many people as possible. Also, how does it make sense to use this hypothetical optical wide distribution scheme in an atmosphere that is detrimental to the transmission method? You think your dish TV gets bad in thunderstorms? Just wait until the fog rolls in on your laser receiver.
Sheesh, the really sad thing is that freakin' timothy couldn't be bothered to exercise an iota of critical thinking skills on this one... fucking christ...
Let the modding down begin...
They could use some loudspeakers and microphones to transmit the data as sound or, better, some wires from Mars to Earth.
The Laser are too dangerous because it could cut the Earth in pieces (at least that I have seen on some Movies).
Interplanetary porn.
1. Run the deflector array feedback loop through the Heisenberg compensators to phase-shift the inverted tachyon beam. .....
2. Merge the phase-shifted tachyons with the original tachyon beam to create an artificial zero-point warp field, which will attract the depolarized cronoton particles.
3.
4. Profit!
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain