Creating a superior optical fiber in microgravity

Discussion in 'General Science & Technology' started by Plazma Inferno!, Jul 14, 2016.

  1. Plazma Inferno! Ding Ding Ding Ding Administrator

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    Made In Space, the company that owns and operates a 3D printer on the International Space Station, has announced their next big project: growing optical fiber in microgravity.
    The company is scheduled to send a new manufacturing product to the ISS in the first quarter of 2017. If initial tests are successful, the company could begin producing higher-quality optical fiber for applications here on Earth, like fiber-based internet, medical devices and sensors for the aerospace and defense industry.
    The idea is that microgravity could possibly be an ideal environment to grow fiber. Today, optical fiber is used in many ways, but perhaps the application we’ve heard about the most is for telecommunications purposes.
    With fiber-based internet, information is transmitted through fine, hair-like glass fibers with pulses of light. While this is much faster than transmitting data with electrical impulses through copper wire (the traditional method used by companies like Comcast), its efficiency is limited by the quality of the glass.
    Terrestrially produced fiber, grown under the effects of gravity, suffers from certain glass impurities and microcrystal formations. These impurities contribute to scattering and absorption loss and reduce the overall quality of the fiber. This can result in signal degradation and becomes especially problematic when transmitting data across long distances.
    Made In Space will attempt to create a better glass with their new product, “a microgravity-optimized, miniature fiber drawing system.” While a quantitative comparison is premature, the company believes that microgravity-grown optical fiber would improve both the response time and throughput advantage compared to traditional optical fiber currently in use for telecommunications.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/13/m...ate-a-superior-optical-fiber-in-microgravity/
     
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  3. Q-reeus Banned Valued Senior Member

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    I entirely agree with the 2nd comment below article proper, by Andrew Palfreyman. A stunt. The idea that any minute increase in performance could justify the huge disadvantages of payload delivery costs and tiny economy of scale possible for any feasible setup on ISS, is laughable. More serious that a governing body issued a grant for such stupidity. Just have a read through e.g.
    http://www.jeldev.org/18_Suliman M. Abdu-gazeleh.pdf
    It's only really necessary to read the Conclusion part. There is essentially zero room for improvement in the two key fiber performance factors, transmission loss just being one of them.
     
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