Nasa to launch a space LASER that will provide internet 100 times faster than current broadband within two years

From DailyMail

A powerful laser shining up into space will soon transmit data between the Earth and the International Space Station. Nasa is hoping to establish laser links at a rate of over one gigabit per second - a speed most home broadband users could only dream of.

This would pave the way for 3D video from space and enable high definition remote robotic exploration of other moons and planets.

The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD) will help Nasa to understand the best ways to operate laser communications systems.

This could enable much higher data rates for connections between spacecraft and Earth, including downloading scientific data and allowing astronauts to send better video messages back home.
LCRD - which will be launched by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland - is designed to function for between two and five years.

Two ground terminals equipped with laser modems will be set up on Table Mountain, California, and in Hawaii.
They will test the communications capability to and from LCRD - which will be located in an orbit that matches Earth's rotation, called a geosynchronous orbit - between the two stations.

The LCRD launch is scheduled for summer 2019, and a terminal is also being designed for the International Space Station that will be launched in 2021.

Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of Nasa's Space Technology Mission Directorate, said: 'LCRD is the next step in implementing Nasa's vision of using optical communications for both near-Earth and deep space missions.
'This technology has the potential to revolutionise space communications.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4345256/Nasa-launch-laser-interplanetary-internet-2019.html

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