SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
"Sony on Thursday said it formed a new company that will build and supply devices that allow small satellites in orbit to communicate with one another via laser beams, dipping into the fast-growing space sector."
Sony Space Communications Corp, registered on Wednesday, is meant to take advantage of laser technology to avoid a bottleneck of radio frequencies. The devices will work between satellites in space and satellites communicating with ground stations.
The company did not say when it expects to have its first commercial device operating in space, whether it has existing customers lined up or how much money it has invested into the technology to date.
There are roughly 12,000 satellites in orbit, a number that is projected to increase rapidly in the coming years as rocket companies slash the cost of launching things to space, [...]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday June 07 2022, @02:11PM (3 children)
I remember Ronald Ray Gun's proposed Star Wars to bring spectacular wars and firefights into space!
I remember the 1984 film: 2010 The Year We Make Contact
In that film, an American space station is stuck by a laser from a Russian space station.
Alas, what Sony seems to be doing (according to TFA) is building lasers for satellites to communicate with one another. So we can have hacking in space. It is my understanding that Starlink satellites already use lasers to communicate.
So Sony now wants its own mega constellation of satellites? For what porpoise? If the satellites don't communicate with the ground for some porpoise, then there is little reason for satellites to communicate with each other.
A better space weapon that lasers would be satellites that can match another satellite's orbit, sneak up on it, grab it, then push, or drag, kicking and screaming, that satellite into the atmosphere. Such a weapon would need lots of cheap launch capability. (Hmmmm, who has that?) The ability to carry plenty of fuel on bored for lots of delta-v. It would need to change its orbit a couple times after launch to try to evade detection and being added to databases of orbiting stuff.
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @05:18PM
think: extra-super-duper-precise-MECHANICAL optonics. mass producible... weeeh.
you think you have steady hands? point a laser...er...pointer at a wall and see that dot wiggle. or how a tiny movement here, will make a 2 meter jump allll the waaaaayy over there.
on this "makes swiss watches look like the stone age" topic, why haven't we got pocket lighters with a water refill hole, we can dribble some tap water in, shacke up and down for 5 minutes (mr.magnetbar enjoying time with ms. coil) and then pieco that gas into a pipe (or after-armageddon camp fire)? naughty naughty.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 07 2022, @11:35PM (1 child)
If you have a link (no pun intended) showing Starlink uses lasers now, I'd be interested. My understanding is that they do not, but they want to build it in. They might have even launched a couple for test, but I'm pretty sure it is still a TBD effort.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday June 08 2022, @03:33PM
I may have misread something. You may be correct and better informed.
The Centauri traded Earth jump gate technology in exchange for our superior hair mousse formulas.