Not happy with your internet speeds? Worried about it getting worse? There’s a simple solution: Just move to the Moon. Researchers just beamed Wi-Fi there, and the connection is probably faster than anything you’ve got in your neighborhood.
Moon Wi-Fi has been a long time coming, but researchers at NASA and MIT have now made it a reality. Using four 6-inch diameter telescopes to beam pulses of infrared light to a satellite circling the Moon, scientists established a solid connection with a speed of 19Mbps down. Yes, that’s faster than the United States’ national average.
https://gizmodo.com/americas-internet-inequality-a-map-of-whos-got-the-b-1057686215
While it may beat out your friendly neighborhood ISP, it’s nothing compared to the ISS-to-Moon connection, which offers a blistering 622 Mbps down. But over an Earth-to-Moon distance of 238,900 miles, 19Mbps down ain’t bad. The researchers will present more in-depth findings at the CLEO laser technology conference in California. In the meantime, keep Comcast away from ol’ Luna. [Discovery]
Image: Caspar Benson/Getty Images
