With the availability of money, you will be able to organize even a small business in the wilderness and at the same time help science. It is about the organization of an amateur astronomical observatory, more or less automated. Although the organization of such an observatory requires a lot of money, in the future it is possible to return the spent funds by providing your equipment for rent to remote users via the Internet. In addition, the development of cosmic laser communications in the long term may allow using your telescope with minimal modifications as a satellite communication site, and this promises to give you a lot of money, especially in remote regions with undeveloped and expensive communications.

Let us dwell on this topic in more detail.

At the moment, intensive research and design of equipment and spacecraft for laser satellite communications are under way. Several successful field experiments have already been carried out. It is most likely that communication will take place in the range of infrared (1064nm), since this range allows to obtain a stable connection in spite of any weather phenomena and time of the day or year. The laser in the infrared range easily penetrates any cloudiness, even multi-layered. However, the signal power, naturally, is greatly weakened, and in this situation a good telescope can just help us. It allows you to significantly amplify the signal and provide an acceptable rate of reception of digital transmission from the satellite. And the speed of the laser transmission can exceed the speed of the existing satellite communication several times. In addition, the physical characteristics of laser radiation make it possible to obtain a much more concentrated ray . This makes it possible to reduce the energy consumption of the spacecraft and thereby reduce its cost, as well as dramatically increase the number of communication channels with geographic selection.

 In this situation, the telescope for laser communication acts as a substitute for all known satellite communications antennas. If we put them side by side, we will immediately see that it is more convenient - a cumbersome, heavy and uncomfortable satellite dish, which should be placed outside the room, and which is afraid of strong wind and precipitation, and a telescope - which can be placed for communication in a room, in comfort and convenience.

Of course, to get full access to the Internet you need to have a transmitter in addition to the receiving path, and with this in some countries with strict legislation in the field of communication there may be problems. The use of laser communication makes it possible to solve these problems with ease. If you live in a country with liberal communication legislation, or if you are on an island or ship in the ocean or in the forest, everything will be even easier.

Thus, having a telescope, you can organize a business in your area to provide a cheap and fast Internet or, in the absence of a transmission channel, satellite television broadcasting services like existing ones, but at lower prices and with more channels and better screen resolution. Although there is still no regular laser satellite broadcasting, it makes sense to prepare for this in advance by purchasing a telescope, preferably with an electric drive and remote control, and constructing a suitable room for it (an observatory). For the purpose of receiving laser communication, any telescope is suitable, provided that its lenses are suitable for working with the IR-range (most telescopes are OK with this). Prepared in advance, you can start working immediately, as soon as laser broadcasting begins, ahead of competitors and earning maximum profit.

If you want to make an ISP right now...

In some cases, it is quite possible that serious state or scientific organizations that are interested in your laser communication services in your region of the Earth do not have their communication complexes that they need to communicate with space vehicles in the far space - both unmanned and manned. The Earth is known to be round, and for a constant communication with the spacecraft in the far space, a whole network of such communication centers is needed along the entire circumference of the Earth, which is expensive. If the entire planet Earth is covered by a whole network of inexpensive and reliable private communication complexes, this will make it possible to sharply reduce the cost of ground support for space research. Thus, having organized your own point of laser communication on the basis of a telescope somewhere in the uninhabited places of the planet Earth - in the extreme North or in the ocean, you can not only do business on orbital providers, but also be at the forefront of scientific research! This can not fail to impress!

 In addition, if there are a large number of private laser communication nodes, it will be possible to create an alternative Internet that is not controlled by any official government, which will contribute to the protection of human rights and freedoms and will allow to fight against repressive and harmful for world progress legislation (copyrights, political repression ). This is especially true for countries that are closed from free Internet, like China, Iran, North Korea. In addition to promoting world progress of mankind and the development of freedoms, you can simultaneously earn a lot of money on this if you are engaged in organizing communications in countries such as China and Iran. China is especially interesting. This is due to the fact that corporations such as GOOGLE and AMAZON are very interested in penetrating the Chinese market - it is very promising for them. But they can not do this by the usual way - the repressive legislation hinders. When using laser transorbital providers, they will be able to do this, and those who can provide them with these services will earn huge money.

 

Let's briefly describe how to make a sensor and a receiving circuit for receiving an infrared laser signal through a telescope. For this purpose, the so-called infrared USB port, used in the past for communicating a computer with various devices with such a port (mobile phones, for example), transferring files through such ports is perfect. For example, IR-412 by Tekram, a photo of which you can see here. By removing the protective red glass filter, we can see two LEDs, one of which is an infrared sensor, and the other is a radiating diode. In the future, we will not need a protective glass, because it strongly attenuates the signal and has a low selectivity. In the future, instead of it, you will need to install an infrared filter in the optical system of your telescope with a high selectivity for transmitting the necessary radiation at 1054 nm. The transmitting diode is also not needed, it should be removed, and from its contacts through the appropriate amplifier send a signal to the transmitting infrared laser or laser of the optical range. If you only plan to receive a signal without transmission, then you have to write your own software to make the infrared port work in abnormal mode. If you use it as a transceiver, you do not need to make any changes to the software. Find out which of the two diodes transmitting is very simple - you need to turn on the USB port and look at it through any modern digital video camera (for example, via a smartphone). Most of these cameras are able to visualize the near infrared range, and therefore through the smartphone you will see which of the diodes is flashing and transmitting.

By connecting the infrared port modified with the above described method via the USB connector to the computer, it is enough to place its receiving sensor directly in the focus of your telescope lens, and it will be able to convert the received infrared signal into digital form.

Also as a sensor, you can use the receiving wiring to operate the remote controls along with the infrared sensor from televisions, air conditioners, DVD players and other home appliances with remote control. But the speed of such schemes will be very low, and they will have to be adapted to transfer information to the computer. Therefore, the option with an infrared USB port is the best.

It should be added that the use of such a reception scheme will only work if the received signal is sufficiently powerful or your telescope has a sufficiently large aperture. If the received signal is very weak or the telescope is small, you will have to use an infrared sensor of a different design, cooled to cryogenic temperatures to reduce spurious noise. This scheme of admission will be very expensive and can not be done on your own.

 To be continued.

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