TL9 interplanetary communication

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Tyneras

Once you have space manufacturing and don't need to pay to lift the material out of Earth's gravity well, and can probably have the finished satellite sent into it's orbit via a large gauss catapult, relay satellites become not too dissimilar to cell phone towers. They are absolutely everywhere, to the point not being in range of one is a surprise.

Not really. The giant central system is actually significantly cheaper than relays.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Not really. The giant central system is actually significantly cheaper than relays.

But also a point source of failure, and a point source of potential surveillance, too. I would think that there would be at least some motive to create alternative linkages that could potentially bypass central.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

But also a point source of failure, and a point source of potential surveillance, too. I would think that there would be at least some motive to create alternative linkages that could potentially bypass central.

It's not really a point source of failure, you're probably talking a distributed array large enough that nuclear weapons are more an inconvenience than fatal, and the way you avoid surveillance with radio communications is encryption, but yes, a mature interplanetary civilization would have multiple hubs. The OP wasn't describing a mature interplanetary civilization.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The OP wasn't describing a mature interplanetary civilization.

As with most things, topic drift has occurred, though I don't mind so much since my original questions have been more or less answered. But yes, I was imagining a TL9 first colony on Mars scenario, not a mature interplanetary civilization.