Talk:Laser communication in space

Move? 19 December 2014

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved. No support for the proposed title. Number  5  7  17:16, 6 February 2015 (UTC)

Laser communication in space → Extraterrestrial optical communication – Someone made this move, then someone cut-and-pasted back to Laser space communication, which looks more suitable, then I history-merged. Relisted -- Calidum  05:33, 28 December 2014 (UTC) Anthony Appleyard (talk) 06:00, 19 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Oppose "Extraterrestrial optical communication", it's not about extraterrestrial optical communications, it's only focused on lasers. There are many ways to use optical observables for communication extraterrestrially that do not involve lasers. -- 67.70.35.44 (talk) 09:26, 19 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Support move, oppose proposed title. Something like Optical communication in spaceflight or Laser communication in space would better convey the subject of the article. -- W.  D.   Graham  21:44, 20 December 2014 (UTC)


 * Laser communication in space is fine. Optical communication in spaceflight would have the same objections noted in the history log - the this is really about laser communication and not other optical communication in space. Perhaps adding a bit about the mirror retro-reflecting light on the moon would alleviate this objection Leaving it alone for now to see if anyone else has input John Cab — Preceding undated comment added 02:37, 22 December 2014‎ (UTC)
 * The mirror retroreflection uses lasers, so that is still laser communication, and not general optical communication -- 65.94.40.137 (talk) 07:49, 21 January 2015 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Restructuring, Feb/Mar 2018
The structuring of the page as well as its content could be improved. I suggest the following structure:
 * 1) Overview (new, general intro, pros/cons)
 * 2) Demonstrations and tests/History (chronological merge of sections Demonstrations, Flight tests, Missions)
 * 3) Commercial use (new, overview of commercial projects such as Starlink, Telesat, Leosat, and other mega-constellations, possibly reference to Facebook Aquila and Google loon which are also known to work on laser communication at the edge of space/the stratosphere)
 * 4) Secure communications (no change)
 * 5) See also
 * 6) References
 * 7) Further reading

Before spending time on these changes I would like to hear opinions on this.

Space.chris (talk) 11:25, 23 February 2018 (UTC)
 * Go for it! -BatteryIncluded (talk) 01:57, 24 February 2018 (UTC)


 * I agree, this would solve many issues with this article. I feel it needs some trimming down in the demonstrations. A number of them are not that relevant to the titled topic or sufficiently important: e.g. Project Tornado and Facebook's connectivity lab (both air-to-ground), Its degenerating into a list article.  Domandologo (talk) 11:07, 27 August 2022 (UTC)

2016 overview
Space-Based Laser Communications Break Threshold May 2016 may be a suitable overview ref. - Rod57 (talk) 11:01, 20 October 2019 (UTC)