Elon Musk: Mars Will Need Terabit-Level Comms—Laser Links and Relays Around the Sun

Elon Musk: We'll need terabit-level communication between Earth and Mars.

“We're going to need terabit-level communication between Earth and Mars, which necessarily means that you want to have a tight beam, like a laser communication system or something like that with relay satellites.

Because sometimes Mars is on the other side of the Sun, so you've got to bounce the photons around the Sun, not through. So, communication is definitely going to be important.

Also, I think that on Earth, there's a lot of potential for space-based communications. I think that there's a huge amount of room to grow for having satellite communication systems that provide high-bandwidth, global coverage.

And we'll need the same for Mars.”

MIT AeroAstro, October 24, 2014