The United States Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is looking to the stars, creating a plan to launch a network of hundreds of small satellites with lasers that would offer much faster internet connections than current systems. This ambitious project, dubbed the “Blackjack program”, could revolutionize global connectivity and expand internet access into areas that lack traditional infrastructure. The project is intended to provide speedy transmission for data, video, and other large-scale communications across the world and in space. DARPA envisions about 100 or so satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) connected by lasers and managed by artificial intelligence algorithms. This system would be capable of data transmission speeds of up to 1 terabit per second, compared to the current speed limit of around 100 megabits per second. The proposed program has been estimated to cost $2 billion over five years but could yield potentially massive returns in terms of global connectivity. Ultimately, this project could bring high-speed internet access not just to rural areas but also to ships at sea and aircraft that pass over remote parts of the globe. To read more, use the button below to open the original external article.