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A High-Bandwidth Interplanetary Connection

sciencehabit writes "A new study suggests that by twisting laser light, scientists could pack enough information into interplanetary beams to speed up extraterrestrial communications to the multi-gigabit level. The pulses would be passed through a hologram or multimode optical fiber, which twists the light. On the other side, a telescope would focus the light and a second hologram, or fiber would decode the signal. That could allow much more data-rich communication between, say, Earth and probes on Mars, the researchers say. Closer to home, the approach could provide Internet links of 100 gigabits per second."

3 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Size does matter... by RandomFactor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    > Hemmati and his colleagues estimate that receiving OAM data from a transmitter as distant as the sun would require a kilometer-wide telescope.

    Sounds like even someplace closer like Mars is going to take an impractically large receiver.

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    --- Mercutio was right.
  2. Re:You serious? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why? How does thinking about "multi gigabit" speeds for interplanetary communications conflict with you getting a faster connection to Pirate Bay?

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    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  3. Re:Throttling by nine-times · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... with a 768kbps upload rate.