“They taking the jobs, they taking the houses, and they get money….
France tests space lasers for secure satellite downlink in world first
French technology firms used laser to communicate between a low-orbit nano satellite and a commercial ground station in an experiment sponsored by the French Defence Innovation Agency, with France’s Armed Forces Ministry dubbing the test a world first.
A satellite from Unseenlabs with a laser payload established a stable link for several minutes with an optical ground station supplied by Cailabs, according to the ministry, which provided €5.5 million ($6.1 million) in funding for the project. The successful test this summer opens the way to integrating the system on France’s future military satellites, the ministry said.
The point-to-point nature of lasers makes them more secure than radio frequencies, and they can’t be jammed the way radio can, Cailabs CEO Jean-François Morizur told Defense News in an interview on Thursday. Additionally, a laser link can transfer very large files such as detailed Earth images in minutes, something that might require multiple orbits using radio signals, the CEO said.
“Anti-jamming is a big one,” Morizur said. “Low probability of detection, low probability of intercept means you can deploy it in some difficult contexts, you just don’t have the same signature as an RF antenna. Putting that on a ship makes sense, because you then reduce the radio footprint of your ship – both for ship-to-ship and ship to satellite.”..
‘Gutfeld!’: Not much empathy from Don Lemon
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld and the panel react to Don Lemon mocking a video of Melania Trump questioning the security at her husband’s rally on ‘Gutfeld!’
