NASA funds Nokia plan to provide cellular service on moon

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18 points·Pick-A-Hill2019··5 comments

Next: on Mars! Imagine sending GPS and cell satellites to Mars orbit before colonizing. Why not? Constant communications between colonists, explorers, instruments. Always know where you are and be able to report that to co-workers or rescuers!

Science fiction authors of the future of Mars should keep this in mind.

At interplanetary distances, constant communication is unlikely, given the transmission delays and expected reliability of the connection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interplanetary_Internet:

“Interplanetary communication is greatly delayed by interplanetary distances, so a new set of protocols and technology that are tolerant to large delays and errors are required. The interplanetary Internet is a store and forward network of internets that is often disconnected, has a wireless backbone fraught with error-prone links and delays ranging from tens of minutes to even hours, even when there is a connection.”

Interesting. I was referring to Mars colonists talking to one another, and locating themselves to others on Mars. But agreed, communications over large latency links (interplanetary) will be challenging.

There were even stories written over wars fought between inner planets (with financial markets) and e.g. Pluto who was always behind in stock trading etc and at a financial disadvantage.

Mind sharing the name of the stories in question? I am interested in reading them.

Oh my, there've been so many stories over the years. One bookcase is 8' X 5' with double rows on each shelf. And there are others.

The Pluto-war story might have been part of a series, that's all I remember.

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