The space shuttle program may be over for now, but that isn’t stopping NASA from coming up with new wild and crazy technologies that us tech junkies would love to get our hands on.

The next crazy (awesome) invention in the works over at NASA is a laser-powered communications system capable of transmitting data to and from, say, probes or Mars rovers, at speeds of around 100Mbps. It’s basically laser-powered internet, which sounds amazing.

With current technology, it takes upwards of 90 minutes for Earth to receive a high-resolution image captured by one of the Mars rovers at a rate roughly around 6Mbps. Using NASA’s laser-powered communications system, that time could be cut down to around 5 minutes.

“Just as the home internet user hit the wall with dial-up, NASA is approaching the limit of what its existing communications network can handle,” said Dave Israel, project lead on NASA’s laser-based communications system.

In order to get such a communications system in a working state, NASA will have to roll out some new hardware. Specifically, satellites will need to be fitted with telescopes, lasers, mirrors, detectors, tracking systems, and two different types of modems.

NASA will begin testing the new communications system by encoding and sending a transmission up to a specially-fitted satellite, which will then transmit the data back to one of two locations in California and Hawaii.

The laser-based communications trial is expected to run for two or three years.

Source: NASA (via Gizmodo)

NASA to begin testing laser-based communications system is a post from: The Inquisitr

First it was just the standard old lightbulb, then along came halogen headlamps, and finally the current favorite is LED lights to shine your way down the road at night.

However BMW isn’t satisfied with stopping there as they have their researchers working to bring laser powered headlights to their cars, and we’re not talking about sometime in the future but rather in some models very soon.

What is driving this work forward is two factors. The first is that laser headlights are more energy efficient that even the LED ones and for electric vehicles every volt counts. While LED headlights only generate 100 lumens per watt the lasers will generate 170 lumens per watt.

The second driving factor is of course the design factor. In contrast to the 1-millimeter-square size LEDs used in car headlights today the laser diode used is only 10 microns in width. As Wayne Cunningham at Cnet notes this opens all kinds of possibilities.

But the tiny size of the lasers open up a lot of possibilities. Instead of a large, round piece of glass, a laser headlight could shine through the cross pieces of the car’s grille, and so remain hidden when not in use. The traditional dual-headlight configuration would also no longer be necessary, as a row of laser diodes could peek out from the front edge of the hood.

As laser light is a coherent beam, it can be precisely shaped, and also changed at will. Instead of a separate high-beam lamp, lasers can be computer controlled to form a low-beam or high-beam pattern.

While this technology is still a couple of years out talk is that we will see them first in BMW’s i8 hybrid brand of cars.

image courtesy of Cnet

Next up in automobile awesomeness – lasers used as headlights is a post from: The Inquisitr

Digital wrist watches are so 2008, especially when compared to the new Alessi Laser Shot watch.  This concept timepiece features actual laser based time projection.

The clock will use actual lasers to project the current time against the users skin. It also features a sleek design that will definitely have people around you talking.

Alessi claims the laser won’t burn your skin, but they’ll have to convince quite a few people of that fact before it goes from concept to commercialization. [Technabob]

Alessi Laser Shot Watch Concept Won’t Scorch Your Skin is a post from: The Inquisitr

Scientists in Seattle are developing a laser based attack system that will shoot down mosquitoes.

If that’s not overkill enough, it gets better: the system is based on the Strategic Defense Initiative proposal (Star Wars), the satellite based laser system championed by Ronald Reagan in the 80s, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

But wait, there’s another two twists.

The first one is that astrophysicist who is designing the system is the same astrophysicist who developed the original Star Wars idea. Second: the request to build the laser system came from former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.

The system is all about combating Malaria. “We like to think back then we made some contribution to the ending of the Cold War. Now we’re just trying to make a dent in a war that’s actually gone on a lot longer and claimed a lot more lives,” said one of the scientists.

OK, I lied, there’s one last twist: the parts used in the mockup of the system were purchased from eBay.

So here’s the short version: Retired defense department scientists working to impress Bill Gates have used cold war technology acquired on eBay to build a laser based offensive system against Mosquitos. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Overkill: scientists building laser system to kill mosquitoes. But wait, there’s more! is a post from: The Inquisitr