NASA puts ISPs to shame
If you are pleased with your broadband connection bandwidth you could be a bit disappointed to find out how far behind the technology ball your local ISP might actually be. NASA boffins are getting 461 gigabytes of data per day back from the Moon using a travelling wave tube amplifier.
According to Network World, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is using a pumped up communications device to deliver 461GB of data and images per day at a rate of up to 100 Mbps. It is also broadcasting it a hell of a long way.
Since most ISPs can manage only 1Mbps beyond about a mile from the local telco office, 100Mbps over 238,857 miles seems pretty good. Of course it is all one way and streaming NASA's LRO data feed into your porn collection is not going to be all that interesting unless you are into lunar rocks.
