This marks the longest one-way communication via laser, as the light made its way across the 240, 000 miles between the Earth and Moon.

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"In the near future, this type of simple laser communication might serve as a backup for the radio communication that satellites use, " Smith said in a statement.

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The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration presents a significant upgrade in existing data communications used in space -- with an estimated increase of six times the throughput of the current best radio system.

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The successful transmission is a significant achievement -- which Renaissance painter Leonardo da Vinci would have surely appreciated -- because it marks "the first time anyone has achieved one-way laser communication at planetary distances, " said principal investigator David Smith of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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The "Mona Lisa" experiment was transmitted at a slow data rate of about 300 bits per second, but the "pathfinding achievement sets the stage for ... high data rate laser-communication demonstrations that will be a central feature of NASA's next moon mission, the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, " said Goddard's Richard Vondrak, the orbiter's deputy project scientist.

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Spun out in 1991, the firm now makes laser-based communication systems, and other esoterica.

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It's laser-focused on giving you access to email, texts and other means of communication, as opposed to music, movies and games.

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