About Robin Marx

Internet on mars

For over 50 years, humans are exploring space. And ever since, we are dreaming of colonizing the moon, Mars and any other habitable place in the universe. While research is progressing and technological advancements are slowly increasing our chances, there is one major limitation that nature imposes: the speed of light. Thanks to Albert Einstein, we know this will never change. This implies that, in order to communicate with Mars, even with hundreds of giant satellites with high-powered laser beams, latencies between 4 and 24 minutes will exist. Robin Marx, researching computer communication and human-computer interaction at the University of Hasselt, states the following: “While early colonists might use the blockchain to decide which cat video gets the limited bandwidth, evolved Martian mutants will rely on evil corporations that ignore net neutrality and decide what gets mirrored and when, just like on earth!”. Promesing an amusing talk entitled “Internet on Mars”. Check out the limitations of interplanetary communication on the stage of TEDxUHasselt 2018.