NASA’s Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group recently met with SpaceX to discuss deploying Starlink satellites around Mars for the “Marslink” project. The goal is to create a network of satellites to facilitate communication between Mars and Earth, reducing transmission time.
According to Elon Musk, this would allow for faster data transfer between Mars and Earth by increasing the signal’s visibility. However, experts argue that this approach will not significantly speed up communication due to the vast distance between the two planets. At its closest, Mars is about 34 million miles away from Earth, taking around 22 minutes and 22 seconds for light to travel between them.
Furthermore, satellite hopping, a technique Musk proposed to create a “data bridge” by jumping data between satellites, will not reduce latency time. Instead, it may increase processing time due to the additional steps required. This technology is still in its infancy, and experts question whether SpaceX can achieve faster-than-light travel or quantum entanglement.
While SpaceX plans to deploy five unmanned rockets to Mars in 2026, followed by human missions by 2028, many experts have doubts about their capabilities in this area. The vast distances involved and current technological limitations make it unlikely that humans will be able to achieve faster-than-light travel anytime soon.
Source: https://jalopnik.com/breaking-elon-musk-has-no-idea-how-the-speed-of-light-1851694933