May 29 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Internet to work faster on Moon than on Earth
Kounteya Sinha
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London will soon
TNN
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The internet speed on the moon will soon be faster than that on earth. Scientists have found a way to get broadband speed of just under 20 megabits per second (mbps) on the Moon.A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory working with Nasa recently demonstrated the data communication technology which makes it possible to receive large amounts of data and stream video and audio from the moon to earth and vice versa.
A download speed of 19.44mbps was achieved through a laser-powered communication uplink through RF signals, along with an upload speed of 622mbps that is 4,800 times faster than the previous record.
This download speed is more than six times faster than the download speed achieved by the best radio system ever flown to the moon, and the Nasa's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) laser space terminal is half the weight and uses 25% less power than the radio system.
LLCD also demonstrated a data upload speed of 20 mbps on a laser beam transmitted from a ground station in New Mexico to the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft in orbit; this speed is 5000 times faster than the upload speed of the best radio system flown to the moon.
“This will be the first time that we present both the implementation overview and how well it actually worked,“ said Mark Stevens of MIT Lincoln Laboratory . “The on-orbit performance was excellent and close to what we'd predicted, giving us confidence that we have a good understanding of the underlying physics,“ he added.
A download speed of 19.44mbps was achieved through a laser-powered communication uplink through RF signals, along with an upload speed of 622mbps that is 4,800 times faster than the previous record.
This download speed is more than six times faster than the download speed achieved by the best radio system ever flown to the moon, and the Nasa's Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) laser space terminal is half the weight and uses 25% less power than the radio system.
LLCD also demonstrated a data upload speed of 20 mbps on a laser beam transmitted from a ground station in New Mexico to the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer spacecraft in orbit; this speed is 5000 times faster than the upload speed of the best radio system flown to the moon.
“This will be the first time that we present both the implementation overview and how well it actually worked,“ said Mark Stevens of MIT Lincoln Laboratory . “The on-orbit performance was excellent and close to what we'd predicted, giving us confidence that we have a good understanding of the underlying physics,“ he added.
