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Mars Telecommunications Orbiter: Interplanetary Broadband
space.com ^
| 05/05/05
| Bill Christensen
Posted on 05/05/2005 6:46:57 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Lockheed Martin Space Systems is expected to land a $500 million contract to build the Mars Telecommunication Orbiter, said Roger Gibbs, MTO project manager at JPL in Pasadena, California. The MTO is intended by NASA to pioneer the use of lasers in planet-to-planet communication; the intended launch date will be sometime in 2009.
The Mars Telecommunication Orbiter will be the first interplanetary spacecraft whose main mission is to provide communications services to other missions. It will orbit Mars at a higher altitude than most orbiters, about 2,800 miles above the Martian surface. This will provide an enhanced line of site to Earth. The spacecraft will communicate with Earth via two radio bands and a new optical communications terminal, which will demonstrate the use of a near-infrared laser beam for interplanetary communications.
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: broadband; mars; marstelecomm; mto; space; surfthenetinspace
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It is going to be a lot of better to post on Free Republic from Mars...
To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; anymouse; RadioAstronomer; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; ...
2
posted on
05/05/2005 6:48:11 PM PDT
by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
To: KevinDavis
I want live webcam views from a flying rover.
3
posted on
05/05/2005 6:51:11 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier!)
To: cripplecreek
Here ya go..
4
posted on
05/05/2005 6:52:56 PM PDT
by
Paradox
("It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it."- Robert E. Lee)
To: KevinDavis
It's about time!! I've been lobbying for an orbiting telecommunications transmitter for decades. Everytime I return from interplanetary travels I always have this dead spot on my cell phone in the Mars region.
5
posted on
05/05/2005 6:53:57 PM PDT
by
BipolarBob
(Yes I backed over the vampire, but I swear I didn't see it in my rearview mirror.)
To: Paradox
Being a man, I can't help but wonder. "would I or wouldn't I?"
6
posted on
05/05/2005 6:56:20 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(I don't suffer from stress. I am a carrier!)
To: Paradox
Who does that remind you of???
7
posted on
05/05/2005 6:59:06 PM PDT
by
Ken522
To: cripplecreek
You know you would...
8
posted on
05/05/2005 7:00:46 PM PDT
by
dware
(3 prohibited topics in mixed company: politics, religion and operating systems...)
To: KevinDavis
Does this mean we need another prefix for the internet? I don't think "www" is appropriate. Maybe it could be "ssww".
9
posted on
05/05/2005 7:04:12 PM PDT
by
Paleo Conservative
(Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
To: Paleo Conservative; All
10
posted on
05/05/2005 7:11:12 PM PDT
by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
To: KevinDavis
Someone needs to develop a hyper speed protocol that allows transmission of information faster than the speed of light.
11
posted on
05/05/2005 7:15:26 PM PDT
by
Paleo Conservative
(Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
To: Paleo Conservative
What domain name does Mars get? .mr? .ar?
Is "www.freemars.com.ar" in our future?
12
posted on
05/05/2005 7:25:04 PM PDT
by
B-Chan
(Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
To: B-Chan; All
I would say the www.freemars.mr would be the best...
13
posted on
05/05/2005 7:26:10 PM PDT
by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
To: B-Chan
But how can they be on "www"?
14
posted on
05/05/2005 7:26:42 PM PDT
by
Paleo Conservative
(Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
To: Paleo Conservative
How about iww.freeuniverse.com.ar? IWW = Interplanetay Wide Web.
15
posted on
05/05/2005 7:30:01 PM PDT
by
NCC-1701
(AN ACTIVIST JUDICIARY IS A CULT!!!!! IT MUST BE ERADICATED FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH.)
To: KevinDavis
The spacecraft will communicate with Earth via two radio bands and a new optical communications terminal, which will demonstrate the use of a near-infrared laser beam for interplanetary communications. Wow. LaserComm to Mars. That is something. The comm bandwidth should be spectacular. Like having a fiber optic line from Earth to the Red Planet.
Now if only we had someone there to talk to.
To: NCC-1701
But we still need a new hyperspace protocol to break the speed of light barrier to faster transmissions.
17
posted on
05/05/2005 7:33:18 PM PDT
by
Paleo Conservative
(Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
To: InterceptPoint; All
This will be very good when humans go to Mars..
18
posted on
05/05/2005 7:35:19 PM PDT
by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
To: Paleo Conservative
Nah, just set up one end of a wormhole in Earth orbit and the other end in Mars orbit. Shine the telecom laser through the wormhole. Latency (less EMR travel time to/from surface at both ends) = 0.
WWW = Wormhole Wideband Web
19
posted on
05/05/2005 7:35:48 PM PDT
by
B-Chan
(Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
To: InterceptPoint
How's about we name it MarsLink?
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