3 ms·
Why can't space optics scale as well as undersea fiber optics?
by davidmurdoch 3y ago
Why can't space optics scale as well as undersea fiber optics?
- ceejayoz 3y agoBecause there's a non-space part of the route you have to deal with. Lasers + clouds = unfun.
- davidmurdoch 3y agoAren't the lasers in space? I don't think the satellites beam lasers to/from earth.
- ceejayoz 3y agoUntil you put all of Sweden (and the people they want to talk to, like Estonia) in space, that data's going to have to come down at some point. Fast inter-satellite data doesn't help you if it has to queue to get in/out of space.
- sandworm101 3y agoBecause the "beam" in a fiber is tiny and can be controlled, while the beam between two sats is actually very large and runs in free space. Most of the transmitted energy will always overshoot the receiver, resulting in significant crosstalk issues once multiple sats are in sight of each other. You cannot have two beams running the same path on the same frequency, not in space. But new fiber can be laid down infinitely along identical paths without any degradation.