This is an excellent example of the benefits available from nanotechnology research!
I can't seem to find the article, but there was another excellent example a few months back in Chemical & Engineering News about nano iron oxide particles dispersed in a liquid that when energized would turn from a pourable liquid to a rigid solid. This technology would make good prision clothing. Push one button and every inmate would be instantly imobalized and unable to move.
DC to Moscow would definitely require some type of relay system since this technology is direct line of site and the curvature of the earth prevent direct line of site over large distances. Wouldn't the sending, relay and receiving computers be able to keep track of expected vs. real transmission times? Adding another "relay" computer to sniff the message would add an additional delay detectable by the computers. If each station is spaced 50 km apart a photon would take 0.00016... seconds to travel the distance. I would think an additional computer sniffing the message would increase this time considerably.
NASA's recent airbag landing on Mars was made possible by ILC Industries in Dover (Frederica) Delaware. The airbags were made from Vectran, not Kevlar, and polymethylphenylsilicone rubber. ILC Industries also make the spacesuits used by NASA astronauts.
Slashdot Mirror
This is an excellent example of the benefits available from nanotechnology research! I can't seem to find the article, but there was another excellent example a few months back in Chemical & Engineering News about nano iron oxide particles dispersed in a liquid that when energized would turn from a pourable liquid to a rigid solid. This technology would make good prision clothing. Push one button and every inmate would be instantly imobalized and unable to move.
Look here: http://www.internet2.edu more specifically here: http://www.internet2.edu/about/faq.html
DC to Moscow would definitely require some type of relay system since this technology is direct line of site and the curvature of the earth prevent direct line of site over large distances. Wouldn't the sending, relay and receiving computers be able to keep track of expected vs. real transmission times? Adding another "relay" computer to sniff the message would add an additional delay detectable by the computers. If each station is spaced 50 km apart a photon would take 0.00016... seconds to travel the distance. I would think an additional computer sniffing the message would increase this time considerably.
NASA's recent airbag landing on Mars was made possible by ILC Industries in Dover (Frederica) Delaware. The airbags were made from Vectran, not Kevlar, and polymethylphenylsilicone rubber. ILC Industries also make the spacesuits used by NASA astronauts.